Three out of four say depression is very disruptive

Three out of four adults say that depression is a very disruptive illness, according to a new survey of people's attitudes and perceptions of mental health in Ireland.

Respondents to the Mind Yourself - the Lundbeck Mental Health Barometer ranked depression as the third most disruptive illness after Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.

Cancer and Parkinson's disease were ranked fourth and fifth most disruptive conditions in the survey.

Prof Patricia Casey, professor of psychiatry at University College Dublin and consultant psychiatrist at the Mater Hospital, Dublin, welcomed the finding.

"If people are more prepared to admit that depression is disruptive to daily living, they are more likely to acknowledge it as a serious problem that needs treatment rather than something that will go away by itself," she said.

However, the Mind Yourself survey also found that the incidence of depression is still underreported with approximately 180,000 claiming to have a personal experience of depression, compared with official figures which state that more than 400,000 people have depression at any one time in Ireland.

"What we need to do is help people differentiate between stress and depression," said Prof Casey.

"There is a stress-anxiety-depression continuum but people need to seek treatment if they have a level of dysfunction which prevents them from concentrating at work or makes them too exhausted to interact socially."

The Mind Yourself survey also found that although few people are prepared to speak about their experiences of depression, there has been a notable increase (from 12 per cent in 2006 to 27 per cent this year) in the number of people who will talk to family or friends about their mental health problems.

Brian Howard, chief executive officer of Mental Health Ireland, said it was worrying that people were reluctant to talk about depression.

"One of the core aims of our organisation is to educate people about good mental health and how we have to be the guardians of our own mental health and there is still a lot of work to be done regarding the public perception of mental illness," he explained.

"We would like the same prominence given to the promotion of good mental health as is given to good physical health. People need to be able to recognise stress factors and plan how to cope with them."

Commenting directly on the Mind Yourself survey, Mr Howard said, "I would be concerned about the use of the word 'disruptive' in this survey because it could be misinterpreted.

"People's reluctance to talk about mental health problems is still linked to the fact that they might be ridiculed or discriminated against."