Is Depression Real Or Just a Western Phenomenon?

At the PSI conference, UCLA's Dr. Vivien Burt spoke in a really interesting session about depression and why women are more likely to experience this "illness of the brain," as she called it, than men. First, she discussed the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Burden of Disease Project, which looks at the most disabling conditions across the world and the impact they have on global health. She stated that in 2000, the top 5 most disabling conditions were: Lower respiratory infections (pneumonia) Perinatal conditions HIV/AIDS Major depression Diarrheal diseases I checked the WHO website, and found that their report has been updated with data from 2004. Depression has actually moved up to the third most disabling condition worldwide. What I found quite interesting is this paragraph in their report: "Unipolar depression makes a large contribution to the burden of disease, being at third place worldwide and eighth place in low-income...