Measure of Burden for Depression

DB Week 2: Public Health
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DB Week 2: Public Health
Depression is one of the most serious conditions in the modern-day world. More and more people are suffering from depression due to increased socioeconomic pressures. To date, the most common measure of burden for depression has been mortality. As seen in Figure 2, suicide is the third-leading cause of death among individuals aged between 15 and 24 (Thacker et al., 2006). This figure has not changed over the years, which is a leading limitation of the over-reliance on mortality as the sole measure of burden for depression.
Another limitation of using mortality as the singular measure of burden for depression is the increase in suicide-related deaths. As more depressed people get access to information on suicide-related deaths, the more they are likely to commi...