TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Depression is a mental disorder that frequently occurs around the globe. It is also the main case of suicide that has taken hundreds and thousands of lives every year.
Chairman of Indonesian Psychiatric Association (PDSKJI) Eka Viora said that in Indonesia the prevalence of people suffering from depression is 3.7 percent from the population. "So it means 9 million people out of 250 million people suffer from depression," Eka said in a press conference on the celebration of world’s health day with the theme 'Depression: Let's Talk' and the launch of Elxion in Jakarta on Thursday (18/5).
Based on the result of basic health research (Riskesdas 2013), the number of prevalence of emotional mental disorder shown by symptoms of depression and anxiety is 6 percent for people age 15 and older.
"Or around 14 million people," she said. In terms of severe mental disorder such as schizophrenia, the prevalence is 1.7 per 1,000 people or around 400,000 people.
Dharmawangsa Psychiatric Hospital director Richard Budiman said that more than 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression in the world. "It went up 18 percent from 2005 to 2015," Richard added. He also explained that WHO ranked depression as the fourth most frequently occurring disease in the world.
AFRILIA SURYANIS
