Depression in the community: findings from the Stirling County Study

Depression and anxiety disorders were studied in a longitudinal investigation of a general population. These disorders were identified through responses given in a structured psychiatric interview carried out as part of the Stirling County Study. A 16 year follow-up indicated that depression carried a significantly worse prognosis than anxiety, as measured in terms of mortality risk and the likelihood of becoming a chronic or recurrent illness. When morbidity and mortality information were brought together, it was found that 82% of those who were depressed at the beginning of the study had a poor outcome. This suggests that depressions found in the community, where most of them remain untreated, are similar in seriousness to those seen by psychiatrists in outpatient clinics and mental hospitals. It seems likely that general physicians can play a useful role in caring for such depressions, especially if physicians become alerted to the risks associated with these illnesses.