Over 30 crore living with depression: WHO

Depression is soon becoming the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide. According to latest World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, more than 30 crore people are now living with depression.

The cases of depression have witnessed an increase of more than 18 per cent between 2005 and 2015.

"Lack of support for people with mental disorders, coupled with afear of stigma prevents many from accessing the treatment they need to live healthy, productive lives," said Henk Bekadam, WHO representative to India.

"These new figures are a wake-up call for all countries to re-think their approaches to mental health and to treat it with the urgency that it deserves," said WHO Director General Margaret Chan in an official statement.

"Depression is a clinical syndrome characterized by episodes of persistent and pervasive low mood, reduced interest in pleasurable activities, pessimistic ideas about self, the world and the future and disturbance of biological functions such as sleep, appetite, self-care," said Rajesh Sagar, who is a professor of Psychiatry at AIIMS.

The AIIMS professor said that the prime causes of depression is stressful life events such as death in family, new job and relationship. The other factors of depression are psychological, negative belief systems about self, world, future, biological, etc.