Talking Depression
Major depressive disorder has a lifetime prevalence rate of more than 15 percent. That means
some 900,000 people in the Atlanta region will suffer from an episode of major depressive
disorder at some point in their lives. Major depression is associated with increased overall
mortality, increased suicide rates, and marked dysfunction at work and in social settings.
In addition to the individual, depression affects the patient’s loved ones and colleagues and friends.
Depression is highly comorbid with other medical conditions such as heart disease or high blood
pressure or diabetes, and it adds exponential costs to the treatment of those disorders. The WHO
Global Burden of Disease study found that depression is the second greatest cause of disability in
the world.
And when it comes to women who are over the age of 18, depression is the most disabling disorder in the world. Medical professionals have developed an expanding array of approaches to help people who have major depressive disorder, including evidence-based psychotherapies, new pharmacological treatments, and new somatic therapies. Yet one on three patients who suffer from depression have a form of depression that tends to be resistant to most typically employed treatment interventions. In fact, more than 300,000 people suffer from treatment resistant depression in the Atlanta area – and many of them are suffering in silence.
Dr. Mark Rapaport is the Reunette W. Harris Professor and the Chairman of the Department of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine and the Chief of Psychiatric Services at Emory Healthcare. Dr. Rapaport has received peer-reviewed grant funding from a number of institutions. His research interests are focused on psychopharmacology, and he has investigated the biologic genesis of anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, depression and immunity abnormalities in schizophrenia.
Dr. Rapaport has trained and mentored students, physicians and researchers in the fields of psychopharmacology, outcomes research, and psychoneuroimmunology. A board-certified psychiatrist, Dr. Rapaport has written over 190 articles for peer-reviewed publications, he serves as the editor of several journals, and he has co-edited five books on maintenance of certification and life-long learning in psychiatry. Dr. Rapaport is a member of the Medical Association of Georgia and a number of specialty societies.
