Ignite presentation of CHPP by Yijun Wang

Hi everyone, my name is Yijun Wang. Today I'm giving a speech on depression. Depression is a global health problem. Depression is just around us. Based on research, one in 20 people has experienced it at some time. Let's talk about what depression is first. According to a definition from the World Health Organization, depression is a common mental health condition that can happen to anyone. It is characterized by a low mood or loss of pleasure or interest in activities for long periods of time. Some people may think that depression is just a low mood, like what they experience after a breakup. No, this is different from the regular emotional feelings of everyday life. Depression lasts most of the day for at least two weeks. The causes of depression are complex; there are many social, psychological, and biological factors. However, the bad impact caused by depression is huge. Research shows strong relationships between depression and physical health diseases. Depression also causes an economic loss of nearly 1 trillion dollars. I will use these three countries as examples to talk about the problem of depression. First, let's look at the United States. Major depressive disorder rate is a great indicator that I want to focus on. I will use MDD to represent it in the rest of the speech. The rate in the United States is 5.9%, ranking top 10 in the world. The United States healthcare system is market-based, focusing on acute care rather than prevention. The United States has very advanced medical technology, including depression treatments. However, the cost is very high, and more than a third of patients cannot get needed care. Based on the above characteristics, to address the problem of depression, the government is trying to provide more mental health care services to communities through government funds. The government is also trying to expand insurance coverage. Let's look at Japan. The MDD rate in Japan is 4.2%. Although this rate is not high in the world, the suicide rate of depressed people in Japan is very high. What is more, only 27% of patients saw any medical treatment, which was nearly half of America. Key features of Japan's healthcare system include universal health insurance, a fee-for-service system, and a mix of public and private hospitals. It emphasizes prevention compared to the United States. Medical costs in Japan are among the lowest in the world. Compared to the United States, Japan pays more attention to the prevention of depression. They avoid depression by building community living environments that provide a place to live, believe, and a sense of belonging. Japan is trying to move from clinic treatment to community treatment. Let's look at China, my motherland. Unlike the two developed countries mentioned above, China is a developing country. The MDD rate in China is 4.2%, which is the same as Japan. Compared to Japan, the suicide rate among depressed patients in China is only about 12%. China's health system is similar to Japan. We have universal health insurance. Most of the hospitals in our country are public. And like Japan and the United States, our medical technology is relatively backward. Similar to Japan, China is also focusing on the prevention of depression, but instead of building comfortable communities, we put more emphasis on mental health education. Mental health education may be optional in other countries, but in China we are required to conduct mental health services and watch related videos every year. For now, I hope you have a basic understanding of these three countries. Given the situation, I want to find out the possible reasons for disparities in depression problems by comparing these three countries. The United States is one of the richest countries in the world, but it also has the highest MDD rate in the world. This might be counterintuitive. I mean, how can people driving Porsches be sad? One possible reason is that richer countries have higher medical costs, especially in the United States. Japan, also a high-income country, has much lower costs due to universal insurance. High costs mean that it is more difficult for patients in the early stage of depression to get needed treatments. In contrast to the strict regulations in China and Japan, the United States has a problem with drug abuse. Studies have shown that people who abuse drugs are two to three times more likely to develop MDD than the general population. Although the MDD rate of China and Japan is both 4.2%, this does not mean that there are no differences between the two countries. The suicide rate among depressed patients is much higher in Japan than in China. This is possibly because China and Japan are so similar. The most widely established reason is that this is because of the bushido spirit. Although stigma of depression is common worldwide, the situation is more severe in Japan. Japanese culture considers expressing pain as a sign of weakness. From this brief overview, we know that depression problems are important. You are welcome to leave a comment on what you think the US government can do. If you are an OSU student, the school offers consulting services. The link is at the bottom. Thanks for listening.