Cited by 174Mental Health Treatment and AccessChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Major depression can be prevented.

Open access
Muñoz, Ricardo F., Beardslee, William R., Leykin, Yan·2012·American Psychologist

Abstract

The 2009 Institute of Medicine report on prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders (National Research Council & Institute of Medicine, 2009b) presented evidence that major depression can be prevented. In this article, we highlight the implications of the report for public policy and research. Randomized controlled trials have shown that the incidence of major depressive episodes can be significantly reduced. Meta-analyses suggest that 22% to 38% of major depressive episodes could be prevented with currently available methods. We argue that if major depressive episodes can be prevented, the health care system should provide routine access to evidence-based depression prevention interventions, just as it provides inoculations for other common and debilitating health problems. At the same time, researchers should pursue the major directions advocated by the Institute of Medicine report to increase the enduring effectiveness of future prevention interventions. These directions include taking a developmental perspective, learning to identify groups at high risk, and testing evidence-based interventions that are likely to have the widest reach. Scientific evidence has shown that clinical depression can be averted. Our societies must take action to reduce clinical depression to the lowest possible level. This article is one of three in a special section (see also Biglan, Flay, Embry, & Sandler, 2012; Yoshikawa, Aber, & Beardslee, 2012) representing an elaboration on a theme for prevention science developed by the 2009 report of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.

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  • Past research with college students found adequate internal consistency for DASS depression, anxiety, and stress subscales with alphas of .87, .79, and .84.

    “Past research with college students indicates adequate internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha of .87, .79 and .84 for the depression, anxiety and stress subscales.38”

    From Feasibility of a Prototype Web-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Prevention Program for College Students. (2014) · cites this paper as [38]

    The passages from the paper’s References section concern depression-prevention studies, not the DASS subscales. Searches for the DASS alpha values and for internal consistency in college students found no passage reporting the claimed values. (LLM, conf=0.76)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Indicated prevention of depression or anxiety disorders in young people still represents a 'blind spot in health care' and has been less investigated than selective/universal approaches.

    “Indicated prevention of depression or anxiety disorders in young people still represents a 'blind spot in health care' 108-110 and has been less investigated than selective/universal approaches 111 .”
  • Bullying victimization and parental psychological distress could be modified or prevented through interventions.

    “Given that bullying victimization and parental psychological distress could be modified or prevented through interventions [17, 35]”

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Murray CJL Lopez AD The Global Burden of Disease. Summary 1996 Harvard University Press. Boston, MA

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Authors
Muñoz, R. F., Beardslee, W. R., & Leykin, Y.
Affiliations
  • San Francisco General Hospital (US)
  • Boston Children's Hospital (US)
  • University of California, San Francisco (US)
Venue
American Psychologist
Published
2012-05
Volume
67
Issue
4
Pages
285-295
ISSN
  • 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-990X
OpenAlex
W1985780857
Cited by
174
References
91
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 18 · 2012: 4
FWCI
27.02
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • American Psychologist (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • University of California Committee on Latino Research
  • National Institutes of Health (R01MH37992, R21MH59605, R34MH091231, 5K08MH091501)
  • Brin/Wojcicki Foundation
  • Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
major depressive disorder, depression prevention, mental health prevention, evidence-based interventions, prevention science, public policy, developmental perspective, high-risk groups
MeSH terms
Depressive Disorder, Major, Major Depressive Disorder, Depressive Disorder, Health Policy, Health Promotion, Humans, Evidence-Based Medicine, Resilience, Psychological

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