Prevalence
The links below provide some basic background.
Now you are ready to begin. Move to the next section and learn how exercise can be effectively used to treat depression.
Over the past 20 years, depression has been increasingly described as a medical disease,with antidepressant medication as the primary treatment (Scientific American). Recent statistics show that almost 21 million American adults have been diagnosed with mood disorders, including depression – four times the rate documented ten years ago (NIMH).
(ndanger, Depression #5 (staring at the park), flickr.
CC: BY-SA 2.0. Obtained on June 21, 2009.)
In 2005, the CDC estimated that over 100 million prescriptions were written for antidepressants at a cost of over $10 billion (Cohen). Despite increased attention given to diagnosis and treatment, depression remains a common and often refractory condition.
