ABSTRACT
The affective disorders (ADs hereafter: depression and bipolar disorder, plus variants) are a global health threat (e.g. Frank and Thase, 1999; Solomon, 2001): ADs have a devastating impact on their victim’s lives and on society because they are widespread, long lasting, often untreated, and still poorly understood despite improvements in treatment. In North America alone some 18% of the population (about 20 million people) endures chronic depression, while bipolar disorder afflicts an additional 3-4 million. Bipolar disorders (“manic depression”) now ranks second as the cause of death in young women, third for young males.
