Painful Truth survey

individuals struggle in silence, waiting for nearly one year

GEORGIA, 26 May 2005 – Findings from an international survey

released today in Atlanta showed that people with major depressive

disorder, on average, waited more than 11 months to see a

doctor and were only diagnosed with depression after five

visits to the doctor, further delaying treatment. The survey

also revealed that nearly 72 percent of people with major

depression did not believe, prior to their diagnosis, that

painful physical symptoms such as unexplained headache, backache,

gastrointestinal disturbance and vague aches and pains, were

common symptoms of depression. However, 79 percent acknowledged

these symptoms to be bothersome or very bothersome, prompting

depression can be very serious because medical research shows

the longer a depressed person goes untreated, the more chronic

their condition can become and the lower their chances for

a full recovery,” says Pedro Delgado, MD, Chairman, Department

of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, University of Texas

Health Sciences Center at San Antonio. “It’s important that

they realize painful physical symptoms can be symptoms of

World Federation of Mental Health (WFMH), in partnership with

Eli Lilly and Company and Boehringer Ingelheim, commissioned

the Depression: The Painful Truth survey,

to measure awareness of the proposed link between depression

and painful physical symptoms among people with depression

and physicians, to identify potential diagnosis and treatment

gaps. Previous medical research shows that 69 percent of patients

with major depression reported physical symptoms as their

chief complaint. 1 Three-hundred-forty million people worldwide

suffer from depression, 2 yet an estimated three-quarters

of people with a depressive disorder never receive any treatment,

according to the World Health Organization. 3 Despite the

high prevalence of painful physical symptoms, the WFMH is

concerned that the public may not be fully aware of the connection

between depression and pain, and that this may be contributing

many people suffering from depression don’t know that the

aches and pains they have been experiencing may be part of

major depression, or they may not want to talk about the possibility

of a mental illness, even with a doctor,” said Patt Franciosi,

PhD, WFMH president. “Either way, most don’t get the treatment

they could so greatly benefit from. We need to educate people

to understand all the possible signs of depression so they

are more apt to openly discuss how they’re feeling with their

market research company Harris Interactive ® conducted the

survey among 377 individuals with diagnosed depression, 375

general practitioners and 381 psychiatrists in five countries:

results demonstrated a significant gap between high prevalence

and low awareness of painful physical symptoms among people

with depression. Although 64 percent reported unexplained

painful physical symptoms among the symptoms that prompted

them to see a physician, 72 percent didn’t know that these

painful physical symptoms were a potential symptom of their

the high prevalence of painful physical symptoms among patients,

only 38 percent of physicians thought that physical aches

and pains were symptoms of depression always or most of the

time, implying that even among some physicians, the association

between painful physical symptoms and depression may not be

physicians and those individuals taking medication expressed

dissatisfaction with current treatments. Forty percent of

depressed individuals were either not very satisfied or not

satisfied with their antidepressant treatment for both their

emotional and physical symptoms. In fact, 74 percent would

consider switching treatments if both the emotional and painful

physical symptoms of depression could be resolved with another

medication. And, approximately one third of physicians were

not very satisfied or only somewhat satisfied with currently

percent of physicians agreed that failure to treat physical

aches and pains increases the risk of relapse. Eighty-five

percent of physicians strongly agreed or agreed that a depressed

individual is more likely to achieve remission if both the

emotional and physical symptoms of depression are treated.

on the survey findings, the World Federation for Mental Health

is developing an educational program for people with depression

and for physicians. The intent of the program—to be launched

later this year—is to increase awareness of both emotional

and painful physical symptoms of depression among people with

depression and physicians, in the hope of improving worldwide

diagnosis, treatment and recovery rates.

WFMH is an international interdisciplinary membership organization

whose mission is to promote, among all people and nations,

the highest possible level of mental health in its broadest

biological, medical, educational, and social aspect. Consultative

to engage in mental health advocacy at the global level,

working closely with the World Health Organization, UNESCO,

the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Commission on

Human Rights, the International Labor Organization and others.

Simon GE, et al. N Engl J Med . 1999;341:1329-1335.

Greden JF. The burden of disease

for treatment-resistant depression. J Clin Psychiatry.

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Interactive ® conducted the telephone survey on behalf of

WFMH between February 21 and April 11, 2005 in Brazil, Canada,

Mexico, Germany and France. A total of 377 adults aged 18

and over who were diagnosed with depression five or less years

ago and who currently take prescription medication for depression,

and 756 physicians who are actively practicing as either a

general practitioner or psychiatrist, who treat a minimum

number of depression patients a year, with two to 30 years

experience in the field. These data are unweighted and given

the very small sample sizes data should be used only directionally.

samples of this size, there is 95 percent certainty that the

overall results for the patient sample have a sampling error

of plus or minus 5.0 percentage points and sampling error

for the physician results is plus or minus 3.6 percentage