DEPRESSION: THE COST TO SOCIETY

The costs of depression to the National Health Service in the UK are L 333 million per year, according to a report published by the Office of Health Economics. This figure includes L 250 million for hospitalization, L 55 million for pharmaceuticals and L 28 million for general practitioner consultations. Less tangible, but equally important, are costs related to decreased productivity at work, absence from work, marital breakdown, crime, unemployment and homelessness.

About two million new cases of depression are diagnosed by UK doctors every year, although it is widely accepted that only a fraction of those afflicted actually seek medical help for their illness, usually because there is evidence that many sufferers feel stigmatized, as if they are to blame for their condition. Complicating this, says the report, is the fact that depression can be a very difficult disease to diagnose; it is possible that over 50% of all patients with major depressive illness who seek medical attention do not have their condition recognized.

The US National Institutes of Mental Health estimates that 15% of people aged between 15 and 74 may be suffering from serious depressive illness in any given year, although there is wide variance in estimates from epidemiological studies. It has been argued in some quarters that depression is on the increase, although these arguments are seldom convincing; increased insight into the pathology of the condition and a move away from the idea that the disorder is somehow a weakness of character has no doubt resulted in an increased diagnosis, but this does not necessarily follow an increase in incidence.