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. Of course, the cost in human suffering is untold. Without treatment, symptoms can last weeks, months, years, or even a lifetime.
Most suicides are in the elderly.
Etiology Recent research has confirmed that depression usually involves a chemical imbalance of the brain. Antidepressants can restore the balance. The disease is a multifaceted, complex disorder which affects many different systems of the body. It involves the way people think and act, the way they eat and sleep, and their attitude toward themselves. It is a condition that cannot be wished or willed away.