1.  Of the estimated 17.5 million Americans who are affected by some form of depression, 9.2 million have major or clinical depression

2.  Two-thirds of people suffering from depression do not seek necessary treatment

3.  80% of all people with clinical depression who have received treatment significantly improve their lives

4.  The economic cost of depression is estimated at $30.4 billion a year but the cost in human suffering cannot be estimated

5.  Women experience depression about twice as often as men

6.  By the year 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that depression will be the number two cause of "lost years of healthy life" worldwide

7.  According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suicide was the ninth leading cause of death in the United States in 1996

8.  Major Depression is 1.5-3.0 times more common among first-degree biological relatives of those with the disorder than among the general population