Public health perspectives on depressive disorders

In 2001, the WHO recognized depressive disorders as the leading cause of disability worldwide. But despite the significant health and social functioning impacts associated with depressive illness, most Americans who meet diagnostic criteria for major depression are untreated or undertreated. Luckily, recent advances in psychiatric epidemiology that quantify the prevalence and burden of mental disorders, the adequacy of service delivery methods, and the risk factors that contribute to morbidity and mortality have finally made it possible for the field of public health to address mental health in the population. Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders fills a much-needed gap by identifying the tools and strategies of public health practice (e.g. surveillance and screening, early identification, preventive interventions, health promotion, and community action) and exploring their application to twenty-first-century public mental health policy and practice. By looking at depressive disorders through a public health lens, this book highlights the centrality of mental health to public health, underscoring the universality and challenge to recognize and promote improved mental health care for depressive illness. Linking the available research literature on depressive illness at the population level with public mental health policy and practice, expert contributors set a research agenda that will help bring mental health further into the agendas of public health science and practice. Additionally, the book provides an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners to develop, facilitate, and conduct pilot and feasibility studies of promising preventive and treatment interventions that might mitigate the progression toward major depression and other mental disorders among populations at risk. The first part of the book underscores the public health significance of depressive illness by focusing on the evidence provided by recent approaches to nosology, epidemiology, illness burden, and impact on overall health. The second part looks at the social and environmental influences on depressive disorders that are critical to future efforts to prevent illness and to promote mentally healthy communities. The third and longest part addresses the vulnerability of diverse groups to depressive illness and underscore best practices to mitigate risk while improving both the preventive and therapeutic armamentarium. Aimed at postgraduate student audiences across a number of disciplines including public health, psychology, social work, nursing, psychiatry, public policy, and health administration, Public Health Perspectives on Depressive Disorders is an essential volume.