Depression The Health Gazette Karl Hempel, M.D. Treating Depression in the New Millennium Introduction Depression may be the most common serious illness a primary care physician sees. It represents about 15 percent of office visits to the primary care physician.
Depression is a major public health problem, as more and more people are affected by it.
Approximately two to three percent of males and four to nine percent of females have depression at any one time. According to statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health, ten million Americans suffer from depression each year. The annual direct cost of depression is estimated to be 12.4 billion dollars. Indirect cost, which includes time lost from work, is approximately 30 billion dollars. This makes the total cost of depression more than 40 billion dollars per year.