by Sayuri Gavaskar, Yale school of public health

Main titles

• "Recall error" causes misrepresentation of lifetime depression, and the current numbers are inaccurate.
• After factoring in recall error, real percentages are closer to 30% of women and 17% of men.

“Major depressive episodes are far more common than we thought. Our model shows that the probability of someone having a first major depressive episode is especially high during adolescence. We also know from other research that having a first major depressive episode increases the likelihood you’ll have a second one. This means that anything we can do to prevent or treat episodes among young people could lead to larger health benefits over the course of their life.” Jamie Tam, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management,

• MDE's have a duration of at least two weeks, and amongst other things, are accompanied by feelings of hopelessness and fatigue.

• Underreporting for depression, sometimes was as high as 70%. One reason was the misclassification of depression symptoms as 'growing pains.'

“Unfortunately, many people with depression or with histories of depression don’t access, or don’t have access to, treatment or support. There’s a broader problem in our society of mental health not receiving the same attention and investment of resources compared to physical health conditions.” - Jamie Tam.

Source: publichealth.yale.edu