The world is failing to tackle depression – and faces a “global crisis” if nothing is done, say experts.
A report by a team of 25 experts from 11 countries estimates that around 5 per cent of the adult population around the world in any year is living with depression.
In high-income countries, about half of people suffering from depression are not diagnosed or treated, and this rises to 80-90% in low and middle-income countries.
The pandemic, the study says, has created additional challenges, with “social isolation, bereavement, uncertainty, hardship, and limited access to healthcare taking a serious toll on the mental health of millions”.
The report’s authors – the Lancet-World Psychiatric Association Commission – are now calling for a “whole-of-society response to reducing the global burden of depression”.
At its worst, depression can lead to suicide. Studies indicate 70-80% of people who die by suicide in high-income countries – and around half of those in low and middle-income countries – suffer from mental illness, of which depression is the most common cause.
The report further points out it also has an “enormous, under-recognised social and economic toll on individuals, families, communities, and countries”.
It goes on: “Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the loss in economic productivity linked to depression cost the global economy an estimated US$1 trillion [£738 billion] a year.”
