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 The research, which covered almost 50,000 people in 21 countries,
found that even in wealthy nations with relatively good health
services, barely 20 percent of depression patients get adequate
treatment.
In poor countries the situation is far worse, the study found, with
only one in 27 people with depression receiving adequate treatment.
"Much treatment currently offered to people with depression falls
far short," said Graham Thornicroft, a professor at King's College
London who led the study.
He called on national and international organizations to increase
resources and scale up provision of mental health services "so that
no one with depression is left behind".
The WHO estimates that 350 million people of all ages suffer from
depression, and the condition is the leading cause of disability
worldwide.
They found that while there is increasing awareness that depression
can be diagnosed and often successfully treated using psychological
therapies or medication, the treatments are not being widely
delivered.
"Providing treatment at the scale required to treat all people with
depression is crucial, not only for decreasing disability and death
by suicide, but also from a moral and human rights perspective, and
to help people to be fully productive members of society,"
Thornicroft said.
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The study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry on
Thursday, analyzed data from WHO mental health surveys in 21
countries including Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Iraq, Mexico,
Nigeria, China, Argentina, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Portugal,
Spain and the United States.
The researchers defined minimally adequate treatment as either
pharmacotherapy, consisting of at least a month of medication plus
four or more visits to a doctor, or psychotherapy, consisting of at
least eight visits with any professional including a religious or
spiritual adviser, social worker or counselor.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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