For every dollar spent on treating depression, almost five dollars is spent on the treatment and workplace costs of related medical conditions like back and chest pain, sleep disorders and migraines – placing a greater financial burden on businesses and the health care system, according to new research measuring the economic impact of depression.
“The fact that they’re finding such greater costs with all these different [related conditions] underscores how the fragmented system is not helpful for our economy because people with mental illness are not getting the rounded health care they need,” said Lynn Bufka, assistant executive director of practice research and policy at the American Psychological Association, who was not affiliated with the study.
Among the study’s findings was that the total cost to the U.S. economy of major depressive disorder – a condition that results in having persistent depressive episodes – rose from $173.2 billion in 2005 to $210 billion in 2010, a 21.5 percent increase. About half of that is for direct treatment and suicide-related services, but the rest is workplace costs. The rise is partially accounted for by the increase in population, but also because depression is being diagnosed and treated more often. The incidence of major depressive disorder rose during this time period from 6.4 percent of the population to 6.8 percent.
In addition, some of this growth might have been caused by the nation’s 2008 economic downturn and tight job market, factors that combined to make it harder for those suffering from depression to retain their jobs and even more difficult for those with this condition who are job seekers to find work, according to Paul Greenberg, a study author and director of health economics at the Analysis Group, a consulting firm in Boston.
Meanwhile, the study also examined how depression plays out in the workplace.
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