PEOPLE WITH depression can often suffer for years before seeking treatment because they do not recognise the condition or because they do not want to be stigmatised, according to a leading psychiatrist.
Prof Patricia Casey, who was speaking ahead of the launch today of new research showing that a third of people with depression have frequent thoughts of death or suicide, stressed that depression was a treatable condition. If not treated, however, it could become overwhelming and ultimately lead to suicide, she warned.
The study, Mind Yourself - The Lundbeck Mental Health Barometer, found that while 88 per cent of people think it is important that depression is openly discussed, 72 per cent do not think it is easy to discuss and 60 per cent think it would be difficult to talk to a doctor about it.
It found that the most common symptoms of depression were frequent thoughts of death or suicide (32 per cent), low self- esteem (29 per cent) and sleep disturbance (28 per cent).
Some 5 per cent of adults or 168,000 people said they had experienced depression. It found no statistically significant increase in the percentage of people with depression but the numbers affected are rising as the population grows.
The research has been conducted annually over the past four years. It found that 66 per cent of adults regard depression as conferring "a lot" or at least "some" social stigma. This has fallen by 6 per cent since 2005. Among people who had experienced depression, 73 per cent thought it was stigmatising.
Dr Eamonn Shanahan of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) said that while this was a positive development, it was "worrying" that only 71 per cent of people said they would consult a GP if somebody they knew was suffering from depression, compared with 80 per cent in 2007.
"There is still a lot of reluctance among men in particular to say they are suffering from depression; it is still seen as a weakness of character, which it certainly is not," he said.
Dr Shanahan said he believed a fear of being prescribed anti-depressant medication might be a factor in people deciding not to go to their GP but he stressed that other options were available. For example, 400 GPs have been trained in cognitive behavioural therapy, he said.
He believes there is a growing pressure on GPs from society not to prescribe anti-depressants but a lack of HSE counsellors meant GPs sometimes had little alternative. HSE counsellors were "pitifully few and far between" and the service was not available at all in some places, he said. "If access to a counsellor is a year away, a GP may find themselves reaching for the prescription pad just to get the person through that bad patch," Dr Shanahan said.
Urging people to contact their GPs, Prof Casey said most people who seek treatment for depression "make a complete recovery". A small proportion need to remain on medication and can then function normally. She said it was illegal to discriminate against people because of an illness.
Lundbeck is an international pharmaceutical company that produces drugs to treat psychiatric disorders. It paid an independent research company to conduct the research