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Evidence for Increase in Rates of Depression in North America and Western Europe in Recent Decades

  • Conference paper
New Results in Depression Research

Abstract

In the early 1970s, a number of observers hypothesized that there had been an increase in depression in the United States (Klerman 1979). This hypothesis was based on a number of observations:

  1. 1.

    The younger age of patients diagnosed as depressives (Klerman 1979)

  2. 2.

    The disappearance of involutional melancholia in clinical settings (Weissman and Myers 1978)

  3. 3.

    The attention given to depression in the lay press, particulary by women’s magazines

  4. 4.

    Increase in depression in reports from treatment settings

  5. 5.

    Increase in suicide attemps and death by suicide by younger persons

  6. 6.

    Increased attention to childhood depression

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical School, 21 Bloomingdale Road, White Plains, NY, 10605, USA

    G. L. Klerman

Authors
  1. G. L. Klerman
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatrische Klinik und Poliklinik der Universität München, Nußbaumstraße 7, 8000, München 2, Germany

    Hanns Hippius

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical School, 21 Bloomingdale Road, White Plains, NY, 10605, USA

    Gerald L. Klerman

  3. Psychiatrische Klinik der Universität München, Nußbaumstraße 7, 8000, München 2, Germany

    Norbert Matussek

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© 1986 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Klerman, G.L. (1986). Evidence for Increase in Rates of Depression in North America and Western Europe in Recent Decades. In: Hippius, H., Klerman, G.L., Matussek, N. (eds) New Results in Depression Research. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70702-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70702-5_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-15782-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-70702-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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