Mike Wallace, a guest of Tipper
Gore at the recent White House Conference on Mental Health, described
how he developed depression. He was in the midst of a long libel
trial, where his integrity and judgment were questioned every day,
much as he relentlessly interrogates his own victims. Everything
he stood for was being challenged, and the outcome was very much
in doubt. Every day, he felt worse; unable to sleep, concentrate,
or make simple decisions, grouchy, full of anxiety and self-doubt.
Every night, he would call his doctor, who would tell him "You're
strong, Mike. You can get through this." Finally one day Wallace
checked himself into a psychiatric hospital. He got medication and
therapy, and recovered.
More than 19 million adult Americans will have a similar experience
this year. They'll develop depression, and they'll get inadequate
treatment. Many will be unnecessarily incapacitated for weeks or
months because their illness is untreated. If 19 million Americans
developed cancer, or polio, or AIDS every year and were not treated
for it, just think of the outcry. But depression is an invisible
epidemic. According to a recent study by the World Health Organization,
the World Bank, and Harvard University, depression is second only
to heart disease in its impact on death and disability worldwide.
Major depression alone accounts for almost seven percent of health
costs in developed economies-more than all cancers combined, more
than alcoholism, more than accidents, more than Alzheimer's.
This is not because depression is untreatable. Far from it; the
success rates for treatment of depression are better than for many
so-called "physical" illnesses. But only one-third of people with
depression get treatment, and only one-third of those get adequate
treatment. Depression remains a major public health problem simply
because our perception is so faulty: "It's a weakness," "You'll
get over it," "I'm not taking any pills."
At the conference, President Clinton cited a recent survey finding
that the majority of Americans believe that mental illness cannot
be effectively diagnosed or treated. If this is what people believe
about depression, no wonder they want to stay in denial about its
existence. The truth is that 80 to 90 percent of people will recover
from depression if they get adequate treatment.
It was years before Wallace told anyone about his experience. Finally
on a late-night interview show, when he knew that people who were
feeling just as bad as he had would be watching, he talked about
what had happened to him. He was surprised when the wire services
picked it up and made it a big story. But, because of our 19th-century
attitude about mental illness, we're surprised when a strong, capable
man reveals that he was laid low, and now is up again. We shouldn't
be surprised at all. It happens every day to people who have the
courage to seek help when they need it.