New reasons not to be depressed about depression

The number of adults being treated for depression has grown significantly over the last 10 years. And many patients have struggled to find an effective therapy that helps them manage the disease.

Fortunately, medical researchers are trying to address that problem. And President Trump’s effort to ramp up research into psychedelic treatments could provide a much-needed boost.

A recent Gallup poll reports the number of U.S. adults with depression is up about 8 percentage points since 2015, to an estimated 48 million Americans. The Yale School of Medicine says that nearly one-fifth of U.S. adults will be diagnosed with major depressive disorder at some point in their lives.

Every year, depression forces millions of Americans out of the workforce, wreaks havoc on their family lives, and inflicts immense damage on the economy. Yale Medicine reports depression and other mental illnesses cost U.S. workers an estimated $333 billion in 2019.

Depression is notoriously difficult to treat. Unlike medicines such as antibiotics and pain relievers that tend to work for the vast majority of people, many with mental illness never find a medication, or multiple medications, that work well for them. An analysis in the journal Nature found that nearly half of all patients with major depressive disorder don’t respond to at least two available antidepressants, which qualifies as “treatment-resistant depression.”

That challenge can have disastrous consequences at work and at home. A parent struggling with severe depression may find it difficult to maintain the routines children depend on,........

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