Depression

Depression is, by far, the most common mental-health disorder. Harvard University projects that depression will be the No. 1 source of lost workdays in developed countries by 2020. Untreated depression is believed to represent a graver threat to productivity through work days lost than cancer, heart disease, AIDS or violence.

Depression -- the word conjures up many images. Everyone has periods of feeling sad or unhappy when things go wrong. This is normal and passes when the situation improves. It is also normal to grieve at the death of a loved one but again, the grieving becomes less severe as time passes. Clinical depression, however, is different.

Pediatric health: depression in children

Depression is a serious but often overlooked disorder in children. Depressed children suffer a reduced ability to experience pleasure, and a fundamental sadness, which may be accompanied by irritability, sleep disturbances and anxiety. Depression can cause deficits in child development, poor academic achievement and teenage suicide. If untreated, pediatric depression can lead to more severe psychiatric disorders in later life, failure to succeed, and serious consequences for society.

Incidence

FALLING interest rates, collapsing confidence and sluggish activity all command the attention of economic policy makers. Seen in people rather than countries or markets, though, the same symptoms cause much less of a stir. That's why there is so little outcry about the fact that there are 330m people around the world suffering from depression, 90% of whom won't get adequate treatment. The disease afflicts more people than heart disease-far more than AIDS-and most cases are not even diagnosed.

Weight of the world: depression in men is under-detected and under-treated