According to a recent Gallup survey, the percentage of adults in the United States who report currently having or being treated for depression has exceeded 18% for the past two years. A decade ago, in 2015, the number was just over 10 percent. Most of the increase has occurred since theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Why has there been such a dramatic increase?
In an interview with Newsweek, David Mischoulon, MD PhD, Director of the Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, discusses the many causes for this increase in depression among Americans. He suggests that “the pandemic was more of a tipping point than a blip.”
Many changes triggered by the pandemic — lockdowns, mobility restrictions, job loss, housing and food insecurity — contributed to the upswing seen in the prevalence of depression. However, many problems persist. Mischoulon points also to increasing levels of loneliness since the pandemic.
The full interview can be found HERE.
David Mischoulon, MD PhD, is the Director of the Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital andJoyce R. Tedlow Professor of Psychiatryat Harvard Medical School. He is also the Director of Training at the MGH Clinical Trials Network & Institute (CTNI). His research has emphasized depression, especially exploration of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches and psychopharmacology for the treatment of depression.
