Number of depressives top 600,000

By Choi Sung-jin

Koreans suffering from depression has surpassed 600,000 in number, stressing the need for the government to take swift actions, officials said Tuesday.

The number of people suffering from melancholia last year totaled 601,152, compared with 534,854 in 2011, according to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. That of manic-depressive patients has also shown steady increase, from 66,270 in 2012 to 78,459 last year.

The continuous growth of mental patients has also affected the development of medicinal products, the Ministry of Food and Drugs Safety said. Generic drugs related with treating depression, schizophrenia and other mental troubles accounted for 25.9 percent of total general drugs developed in 2015, it said.

Experts attribute the growth of mental patients to increasing stress caused by anxiety for survival amid the economic slump. “Behind the increase of depressives are complex problems in workplaces, families and marriages,” a doctor said. “In the case of baby boomer generation now in their 50s and 60s, their major source of stress is lack of preparation for retirement life.”

The government of course is not sitting idle.

It is expanding the state-run mental hospital and setting up an agency exclusively responsible for people’s mental health. The new and expanded offices will focus on studying diagnosing and treating mental troubles and conducting researches into social problems resulting from the widespread mental illnesses, officials said.