Respondents choose from 4 possible answers ranging in intensity from 0 to 3. As a screening test for depression, recommended cut-off points are: 0 9 non-depressed, 10 15 mild depression; 16 23 moderate depression; and ≥ 24 severe depression.
Among the depressed 12 (30.8%) had mild depression, 21 (53.8%) moderate depression and 6 (15.4%) had severe depression.
Among the depressed, 12 (30.8%) had mild depression, 21 (53.8%) suffered moderate depression and 6 (15.4%) had severe depression, when categorised on the MADRS score.
That story begins to take shape when you consider what the new study actually said: Antidepressants do work for very severely depressed people, as well as for those whose mild depression is chronic.
Strikingly, in a clinical sample of mild-moderately depressed patients, depression was reduced to a greater extent when gum was administered with antidepressant medication, compared to medication alone [ 25].
One third of the depressed men and half of the depressed women had depression of moderate severity according to MADRS and the remainder had mild depression.
Of the screened depressed, mild were 31%, moderately depressed were 13.4%, moderate to severe 4.4% and severe were 1% (Table 2).
Randomised controlled trials of group PPT with mild to moderately depressed students (n = 40) and individual PPT with severely depressed mental health clients (n = 46) both showed gains in symptom reduction and happiness, with moderate to large effect sizes and improvement sustained at one-year follow-up [ 104].
That leaves a patient pool of the mild to moderately depressed -- and mild to moderate depression is a disease that waxes and wanes.
And the pension gap will widen if, as I forecast, we enter an era of mild deflation, low interest rates and depressed equity returns.
