Abstract

A NEW EPIDEMIC

Just recently there has been an epidemic sweeping the nation. This epidemic has been affecting millions of people everyday and costing the government millions of dollars in the process. This epidemic, depression. Depression has taken a sudden increase in the amount of people suffering from this disease. Could the non compassionate, lazy doctors who would rather prescribe drugs rather than trying alternate treatments before medication be the ones to blame? Or has America's image of happiness change over the turn of the century leaving us with a new sense of what happiness and sadness is? Despite all the explanations of why there has been an increase, more importantly this epidemic is not only affecting the children whose parents suffer from the disease, but also this disease is affecting everyone in society. With the increase of depression comes a new reason to miss work, weakening productivity, and leaving employers with the medical and pharmaceutical costs. Also parent's suffering with this, are more likely to neglect and eventually pass on depression to their children creating a vicious depressive cycle. Never the less depression has dramatically increased over the past decade and its affects on society should be noticed.