ABSTRACT
The basic facts regarding rates of depression are easily summarized. About 1 per 1000 of the general population are admitted to hospital annually with depression; about 3 per 1000 are referred to psychiatrists, of whom two are treated as out-patients. However, around 3 percent of the general population are treated in this country by general practitioners and an equal number probably consult and are not recognised. The prevalence rate in the general population is about 5 percent although estimates vary considerably. Depression is therefore a kind of iceberg of which only the tip sticks up to reach the psychiatrist. The frequencies of the disorder will depend very much on how one defines it and where one studies it.
