Depression has a huge personal and social impact, often resulting in loss of employment and extensive treatment. Withdrawal from productivity can be profound and enduring. Treating depression quickly and effectively is essential for the patient’s health, however treatment choice is currently based on the doctor’s experience alone. At the moment, it is difficult for doctors to know which patients will respond to antidepressant treatment or not. Immediate side effects and slow improvement in a patient’s mood can cause patients to stop taking their medication too soon to benefit. If patients stop treatment too soon, depression can become worse and harder to treat.

• Worldwide, 350 million people suffer from depression
• One in every ten people will experience depression at some point in their lives
• Fewer than half of those suffering from depression receive treatment
• Mental ill-health costs the UK more than £94 billion each year (OECD statistic)
• The department of health estimates the annual cost of depression to the health service to be £7.5 billion
• More than one third of GP visits in the UK are related to mental health issues
• The annual cost of depression in the US is over $200 billion (including costs of lost productivity and suicides)
• In the US, 36 million people take antidepressants

For more information and support:

Mind
NHS choices: Stress, anxiety and depression
MentalHealth.org
Samaritans