Dealing With Environmental Stress: Why Is It Time to Move Towards a New Approach to Depression?

Depression is a complex mental health condition characterized by persistent sadness, loss of interest, and a range of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms. It can be acute or chronic and is often influenced by a combination of genetic, biological, psychological, and social factors. According to transnational estimates of prevalence, depressive symptoms represent the most concerning challenge to mental health across cultures and beyond geographical borders. There are growing public health concerns that depression is leading to an increase in suicide rates, while causing diversity, uncertainty of treatment options and cultural stigma. The current trends in life expectancy make depression a great challenge for global health, while there are unsolved care problems on how to implement adequate responses and treatment at local and global levels. The main purpose of this article is to highlight why an integrated path to care is more critical than ever before. The role of biomedical sciences and modern psychology is therefore discussed in terms of how developing our knowledge may better help us to support those with depression, and to inspire new research methods in primary and secondary care.