How Can We Reverse the Depression Epidemic?

Depression is the world’s greatest health problem and leading source of human misery. One in four women and one in six men suffer from depression, which has a devastating economic impact since those afflicted often can’t work. Depression is also the strongest risk factor for the world’s 1 million annual suicides—a total that outnumbers deaths from war, natural disasters, and murder. And while new research is identifying the various biological, cognitive, and environmental factors associated with depression and thus offering the promise of progress, the prevalence of the disease grows and it remains hard to treat. What explains this depression health crisis? Why don’t more people obtain treatment? Why doesn’t treatment work for 50 percent of those with depression? And what can be done socially, clinically, and through research to reduce depression and improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people? UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, Director of the American Psychiatric Foundation’s Center for Workplace Mental Health Darcy Gruttadaro, UCLA behavioral geneticist Jonathan Flint, and psychiatrist and chief medical officer at Blue Cross of Idaho Rhonda Robinson Beale visit Zócalo to examine the measures it would take to cure the world’s depression epidemic.