Everyone has been touched by depression. Nearly 21 million of us suffer from depression (14.8 million), bipolar disorder (5.7 million) or another mood disorder each year, costing $83.1 billion to society in the United States alone. As many as 1 in 8 teens have clinical depression, and suicide is the third leading cause of death among those between the ages of 15 and 24. Over a lifetime, 1 in 5 of us will experience depression. These disorders disable millions, cost billions and prematurely end more than 30,000 lives annually by suicide.
 
We understand why these troubling trends are occurring. Mood disorders start young; frequency of onset peaks between ages 15 and 24. If untreated, these disorders persist throughout our lives and progressively worsen. They are sometimes triggered by unavoidable life stresses, and although we have learned much about causes and treatments, mood disorders remain cloaked in stigma, silently destroying lives. Without change, this stealth destruction will continue at great cost. A national network is a key component to affecting a true transformation of care for people suffering from depression, bipolar disorder and associated mood disorders.
 
The National Network of Depression Centers (NNDC) is a network of leading depression centers and academic medical centers that have come together to affect such a transformation. The mission of the NNDC is "to improve the quality, effectiveness, and availability of depression and bipolar illness diagnosis, treatment and prevention so people can live better lives."
 
To find solutions to the challenges that face us, the NNDC is constantly creating new and developing existing programs and services to support our member centers and a wider community as we battle for large-scale, multi-site research and clinical trials, improved standards of clinical care, dissemination of education and outreach programs, and eradicate the stigma associated with mood disorders.
 
In this section, you will read more about some of the projects and services that the NNDC engages. The time is now to work together to affect change in the area of mood disorders.
 
 
For more information about any of the services detailed here or services that are currently being developed, contact the NNDC at nndc@nndc.org.