Abstract
The Merck Essay Prize was inaugurated in 1993. All trainee psychiatrists (senior house officers, registrars or senior registrars) in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland were eligible to submit an essay on the topic: ‘Depression: Counting the Costs’. The winning essay by Dr Peter Haddad is printed here. The runners-up in Joint second place were Dr J. Bray, Lecturer, University of Leicester (Leicester General Hospital) and Dr R. Bullock, Senior Registrar, St Mary Abbots Hospital, London.Depressive illness is the commonest form of mental disorder in the community. Its effects are far-reaching and include psychological suffering and social disruption for affected individuals and their families, increased mortality, and direct and indirect financial costs for society. Only about half of all cases of depression are recognised by doctors and not all of these receive effective treatment. The costs of depression could be reduced if detection and treatment were improved. Addressing this is a major challenge for psychiatric services.
Highlights
The Merck Essay Prize was inaugurated in 1993
Depressive illness is the commonest form of mental disorder in the community
Depressive dis orders are an important contributor to accidents at home, at work and on the roads. This relation ship remains after allowing for cases of deliberate self-harm and suicide that have been misdiagnosed as accidents, i.e. there is an increase in genuine accidents which reflects the impaired performance of the depressed individual
Summary
All trainee psychiatrists (senior house officers, registrars or senior registrars) in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland were eligible to submit an essay on the topic: 'Depression: Counting the Costs'. Depressive illness is the commonest form of mental disorder in the community. The costs of depression could be reduced if detection and treatment were improved. Addressing this is a major challenge for psychiatric services. Depressive illness is the commonest form of mental disorder in the community and in general and psychiatric practice. In the com munity the point prevalence of DSM-III major depressive episode is in the range of 2-4% (Weissman et al, 1988). The costs of depressive illness can be considered in terms of who pays them and the form they take
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