DEPRESSION AFFECTS A SIGNIFICANT PERCENTAGE OF OUR CITIZENS

While the term "depression" is commonly used to describe a temporary decreased mood when one "feels blue", clinical depression is a serious illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts that cannot simply be willed or wished away. It is often a disabling disease that affects a person's work, family and school life, sleeping and eating habits, general health and ability to enjoy life. Having depression is a major risk factor for suicide; in addition, people with depression suffer from higher mortality from other causes. Clinical depression affects about 7–18% of the population on at least one occasion in their lives, before the age of 40. In some countries, such as Australia, one in four women and one in six men will suffer from depression. In Canada, major depression affects approximately 1.35 million people, and in the USA approximately 14 million adults per year. About twice as many females as males report or receive treatment for clinical depression, though this imbalance is shrinking over the course of recent history; this difference seems to completely disappear after the age of 50–55. Clinical depression is currently the leading cause of disability in North America as well as other countries, and is expected to become the second leading cause of disability worldwide (after heart disease) by the year 2020, according to the World Health Organization.

Other disorders featuring depressed mood: dysthymia is a chronic, mild depression; postnatal depression (postpartum depression); short term depression; Seasonal affective disorder (SAD).

The three most conventional treatments for depression include medication, psychotherapy, and electroconvulsive therapy. If there is an imminent threat of suicide or the patient is a danger to others, hospitalization is employed. Other methods of treatment: light therapy, acupuncture,  hypnotherapy, meditation.