Depression Centers Needed
Let's copy strategy that cut cancer and heart disease deaths
by John F. Greden
Ann Arbor News - Editorial
November 12, 2006
The time has come to fight more effectively against depressive and bipolar illnesses by creating a national network of depression centers. The seeds of this movement have been planted in Ann Arbor.
Experts have told us for years that depression and bipolar illnesses (manic-depression) affect at least one of every five of us and are the leading causes of disability in the world. Hundreds of studies explain why depressive illnesses are underdiagnosed and undertreated; why depression ranks second only to heart diseases as the most expensive contributor to our soaring health care costs; why depression costs have helped fuel our current automobile crisis; why suicide tragically extinguishes 30,000 lives each year and has become the third most frequent cause of death among teenagers; and why stigma remains a potent barrier for the 19 million Americans with these disorders.
We don't need more elaborations about "why.'' We need a response proven to work.
What will work is to copy the successful strategies developed for cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
In 1954, childhood leukemia victims survived an average of only three months. Now - following clinical procedures developed in cancer centers - more than 80 percent are cured. It is not surprising that Dr. John E. Niederhuber, current director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), states, "The cancer centers have been and continue to be the crown jewels of the NCI's program.'' (The New York Times, Aug. 17, 2006.)
Cardiovascular centers just as dramatically reduced death rates from heart disease by one-half. Centers do this by linking strong academic institutions with community clinicians, translating brilliant research into clinical breakthroughs, and by conducting education programs for everyone. Their networks enable experts to share their knowledge - to learn from each other. And centers fight stigma, simply by being honest with their choice of names.
That last observation is best illustrated by cancer's history. In the late 1960s, my mother, a nurse, privately informed me of my father's cancer and followed the bad news by whispering, "Now don't tell anyone.'' Not a surprise in the 1960s. Whispers and stigma were the norm when discussing cancer.
Cancer centers showed us a different way by proudly displaying their names. We now have more than 70 of them dotting the country's landscape. During the sam depressive and bipolar illnesses - statistically more burdensome and expensive than cancers - remained too preoccupied with being hidden and secretive. That strategy for fighting stigma hasn't worked, so we are changing it.
In 2001, the University of Michigan launched the first comprehensive depression center, patterned after comprehensive cancer centers. Learning from cancer's history, this "depression center'' proudly acknowledges its name. More than 135 depression and bipolar experts from more than 10 of the university's schools and institutes already collaborate in new studies, clinical treatments and evidence-based education. The center has garnered strong support from donors and a spectacular new facility opened in Ann Arbor in October.
But one center is not enough. Let us learn from our cancer and cardiovascular colleagues by building an integrated network. Federal and National Institutes of Health support will be necessary, and that takes time and leadership, so we need to get started. Let us start by advocating for five centers and expanding from there. To jump-start the process, we also are taking steps to start a nonprofit center alliance among eminent academic institutions.
To give this concept its best chance of success, let us require that local organizations help by providing their own meaningful support. Our own experience confirms that such support can be generated. America desperately needs this national network of depression centers. Our children need it. The time has come.
To contribute essays to Other Voices, contact Mary Morgan, opinion editor, at mmorgan@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6605. e time-frame, depressive and bipolar illnesses - statistically more burdensome and expensive than cancers - remained too preoccupied with being hidden and secretive. That strategy for fighting stigma hasn't worked, so we are changing it.
In 2001, the University of Michigan launched the first comprehensive depression center, patterned after comprehensive cancer centers. Learning from cancer's history, this "depression center'' proudly acknowledges its name. More than 135 depression and bipolar experts from more than 10 of the university's schools and institutes already collaborate in new studies, clinical treatments and evidence-based education. The center has garnered strong support from donors and a spectacular new facility opened in Ann Arbor in October.
But one center is not enough. Let us learn from our cancer and cardiovascular colleagues by building an integrated network. Federal and National Institutes of Health support will be necessary, and that takes time and leadership, so we need to get started. Let us start by advocating for five centers and expanding from there. To jump-start the process, we also are taking steps to start a nonprofit center alliance among eminent academic institutions.
To give this concept its best chance of success, let us require that local organizations help by providing their own meaningful support. Our own experience confirms that such support can be generated. America desperately needs this national network of depression centers. Our children need it. The time has come.
To contribute essays to Other Voices, contact Mary Morgan, opinion editor, at mmorgan@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6605.
