Roper Starch completed telephone interviews with 3,288 adults age 18 and older about their awareness and understanding of clinical depression and GAD, as well as their awareness of available treatments and expectations of the results from treatment. Every fourth adult who did not have symptoms of either illness was interviewed in depth. 8 points for the smallest segment. This includes major depressive disorder, manic depression and dysthymia, a longer-lasting form of depressed mood. Clinical depression causes people to lose pleasure from daily life, can complicate other medical conditions, and can even be severe enough to lead to suicide.
Clinical depression can occur to anyone, at any age, and to people of any race or ethnic group.
The most commonly used treatments are antidepressant medication, psychotherapy or a combination of the two. The choice of treatment depends on the pattern, severity, persistence of depressive symptoms and the history of the illness. GAD most often begins in childhood or adolescence, but can begin in adulthood, too. It affects women more often than men. GAD is characterized by 6 months or more of chronic, exaggerated worry and tension that is unfounded or much more severe than the normal anxiety most people experience.