The International Encyclopedia of Depression

Depression is a leading cause of psychiatric morbidity. Some 10 to 15 per cent of the population worldwide is estimated to have had at least one serious episode in which normal responses to grief or loss became pathologically severe and persistent. Treating depression is therefore the main occupation of most psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health workers, and is, of course, a major source of business for the pharmaceutical industry. Currently approximately 8 per cent of the American population are estimated to be taking antidepressant drugs. While the rate of diagnosis is rapidly rising, the evidence as to whether the...