| Depression Research Fact Sheet | |
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An estimated $30.4 billion was lost to the direct and indirect costs of the illness in 1990. In addition, the suffering endured by people with depression and the lives lost to suicide attest to the great burden of this disorder on individuals, families, and society.
Improved recognition, treatment, and prevention of depression are critical public health priorities. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the world’s leading mental health biomedical organization, conducts and supports research on the causes, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of depression.
Evidence from neuroscience, genetics, and clinical investigation demonstrate that depression is a disorder of the brain. Modern brain imaging technologies are revealing that in depression, neural circuits responsible for the regulation of moods, thinking, sleep, appetite, and behavior fail to function properly, and that critical neurotransmitters – chemicals used by nerve cells to communicate – are out of balance.
Genetics research indicates that vulnerability to depression results from the influence of multiple genes acting together with environmental factors. Studies of brain chemistry and of mechanisms of action of antidepressant medications continue to inform the development of new and better treatments.
In the past decade, there have been significant advances in our ability to investigate brain function at multiple levels. NIMH is collaborating with various scientific disciplines to effectively utilize the tools of molecular and cellular biology, genetics, epidemiology, and cognitive and behavioral science to gain a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence brain function and behavior, including mental illness.
This collaboration reflects the Institute’s increasing focus on "translational research," whereby basic and clinical scientists are involved in joint efforts to translate discoveries and knowledge into clinically relevant questions and targets of research opportunity. Translational research holds great promise for disentangling the complex causes of depression and other mental disorders and for advancing the development of more effective treatments.
NIMH Depression Index
Articles and publications from the National Institute National Institute of Mental Health with the latest research about depression.
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