Grant: CIHR Café Scientifique Program

Depression is a major public health issue both because of its prevalence and its consequences on morbidity and mortality in the population. In addition to symptoms of sadness and hopelessness, a loss of interest and motivation, changes in weight, difficulty sleeping and more, depression can also bring on physical problems, as well as social and work-related difficulties. Depression is often accompanied by anxiety. This is an excessive concern for everything, constant worrying about everything in daily life and difficulty to stop thinking these thoughts. The World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Burden Disease (GBD) study quantified and compared the burdens imposed by diseases in terms of disability-adjusted life years1. The GBD study estimated that, world-wide, depression is the single most burdensome illness during the middle years of life. Therefore, depression is a very real concern in the workplace both in the suffering it entails and the economic impact it has on individuals and those close to them and on our Canadian health care system. The main objective of this Café is to inform the public of the signs and symptoms of depression and anxiety in the workplace, what to do about it and to reduce the risk of suffering from relapses through treatments both traditional and innovative in their approach. Medication, psychotherapy, as well as stress-reduction techniques will be discussed with experts in their specific area of interest in mental health.