Uriel Halbreich, professor of psychiatry and gynecology and obstetrics, is director of biobehavioral research at UB and an international expert in psychopharmacology, hormonal disorders and behavior, with special interest in premenstrual syndrome, cognitive disorders and depression. Depression is very prevalent, with up to one of four people having severe depression that would necessitate treatment at least once in their life.
Many sufferers have a chronic disorder with repeated episodes.
The number of human productive years lost to depression is staggering. But what most depressions have in common is that up to 90 percent are treatable. A consequence of not adequately treating depressions might be disastrous. Many people do not realize that depression is a disease that may lead to mortality-quite a number of severely depressed patients commit suicide. Our mood changes in response to external, as well as internal, stimuli.