An exclusive Medical Reporter interview with New York City psychiatrist Ivan Goldberg, M.D., on a devastating, costly, yet eminently treatable disease affecting millions. Depression is a long lasting state of unhappiness or profound loss of interest that is accompanied by physiological, psychological and social symptoms. Depression is second to only coronary artery disease in being associated with occupational disability, problems fulfilling one's social role, and days in bed during the previous month. A number of studies have looked at the economic costs of depression.
Depression clearly affects women more than men.
This is true in all the countries that have been studied. It is probably a result of the more complex biological, psychological, and social factors that operate in women's lives. There are multiple causes of depression. There is no doubt that heredity plays a role in the etiology of depression. Early life experiences, such as loss of a parent also predispose one towards becoming depressed later in life.