--- title: Depression: Why We Need an Operation Warp Speed for Treatments description: Depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses have skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic. We need a mental health crisis response now canonical: https://time.com/6048942/why-we-need-a-mental-health-moonshot-for-depression-in-the-wake-of-the-pandemic/ author: Susanna Schrobsdorff article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-05-17T17:20:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:25.176Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Depression: Why We Need an Operation Warp Speed for Treatments og:description: Depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses have skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic. We need a mental health crisis response now og:url: https://time.com/6048942/why-we-need-a-mental-health-moonshot-for-depression-in-the-wake-of-the-pandemic/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70137fb26d6ef34e/698a19b1b3fce33b240c7f2a/GettyImages-672724985.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5147 og:image:height: 2895 og:image:alt: Full Frame Shot Of Star Field og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Depression: Why We Need an Operation Warp Speed for Treatments twitter:description: Depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses have skyrocketed in the wake of the pandemic. We need a mental health crisis response now twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt70137fb26d6ef34e/698a19b1b3fce33b240c7f2a/GettyImages-672724985.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Depression Is a Pandemic. Let's Use the Lessons of COVID-19 to Find Treatments > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: The Alarming Increase in Suicide Among Black Youth [Watch (HLS stream): The Alarming Increase in Suicide Among Black Youth](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0fTBBcyj.m3u8) (4:50)  _Published 2021-05-04. Youth suicide rates have increased in the last decade, but researchers have found that rates for Black youth grew by a staggering 73% since 1991. Dionne Monsanto shares her daughter's story, and explores how Black families can tackle this crisis._  by [Susanna Schrobsdorff](https://time.com/author/susanna-schrobsdorff/)  ## Susanna Schrobsdorff May 17, 2021 5:20 PM UTC  Getty Images/EyeEm  by [Susanna Schrobsdorff](https://time.com/author/susanna-schrobsdorff/)  ## Susanna Schrobsdorff May 17, 2021 5:20 PM UTC **_A version of this article also appeared in the_**[**_It’s Not Just You_**](https://time.com/tag/its-not-just-you/) **_newsletter._**[_Sign up_](https://ti.me/2TwyJHH) _here to receive a new edition every Sunday._ _This week, we have a special Mental Health Awareness Month edition of It’s Not Just You. In addition to the piece below, you can read a guest essay from_ [_Ciara Alyse Harris_](https://www.instagram.com/ciaraalyseharris/?hl=en)_, one of the stars of the hit musical,_ [_Dear Evan Hansen_](https://dearevanhansen.com/)[_here_](https://time.com/6049026/a-dear-evan-hansen-star-on-what-she-learned-about-self-worth-after-a-year-without-applause/)_._ **My dad, who was always intuitive,** told us he saw that my little sister’s depression had returned when he printed photographs he’d taken of her. “I could see it in her eyes, like a ghost,” he said. It was an observation born of love and experience, not science, but not wrong. Until recently, major depression has felt like a ghost disease–invisible but devastating. It’s a disorder that still affects millions every year–one in four of us will suffer a depressive episode in our lifetime. Despite those numbers and the fact that humans have been documenting and speculating about it for millennia, we’re only beginning to understand its biology. How differently would we think about depression if we could visualize it, track it and fight it the way we do cancer or the novel coronavirus? Thanks to some astounding new research, we’re getting closer to finding out. In April, a team at the Indiana University School of Medicine published[ news about a promising new blood test](https://www.eurekalert.org/pub%5Freleases/2021-04/iuso-iso040721.php) that can reveal how severe a patient’s depression may be, the risk of developing severe depression, and even the risk of future bipolar disorder. This breakthrough using RNA biomarkers will get us closer to more precise and effective treatments and is just one example of a whole slew of biomarkers for depression that researchers have been uncovering. [_Sign up for It’s Not Just You here_](https://ti.me/2TwyJHH) _to get an essay every Sunday._ Other findings that further establish the link between the biology of the brain and mood disorders may lead to new drug therapies. Earlier this year, researchers in the [Department of Psychiatry at McGill University,](https://www.livescience.com/depression-brain-astrocytes.html) Montreal, produced evidence that a reduced density of star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes is linked to major depression. These wondrous star cells support neurons, and a single astrocyte cell can interact with up to 2 million synapses at a time. A reduction in astrocytes in the brain regions studied may have adverse effects because those areas are thought to be important for decision-making and emotional regulation, conditions common in major depression. So there may be an opportunity to alleviate depression by developing drugs that boost the astrocytes or their functions. (And there’s optimistic related research on [psychedelics like ketamine](https://time.com/5381387/ketamine-opioid/) which may affect astrocyte function.) Surely it’s possible to define the contours and mechanisms of depression in ways that allow us to see what we’re fighting clearly, and to shed the old stigmas, myths, and self-blame that have clung to this disease for too long. After all, in just a year, we had a picture of the coronavirus in our heads with its red spikes; we could get a test for it, and in record time, we had a vaccine. **Imagine if we thought of depression,** anxiety, and other mood disorders as a pandemic-level crisis and launched a response proportional to the toll these illnesses take, [especially in the wake of the pandemic.](https://time.com/5886228/depression-covid-19-pandemic/) And, crisis is not too strong a word: the [CDC reported](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7013e2.htm) the percentage of U.S. adults with recent symptoms of anxiety or a depressive disorder rose to 41.5% in February. The toll in lost productivity, related increases in substance abuse, and heartbreak is immeasurable. The World Health Organization reports that depression is the leading contributor to [long-term disability globally. ](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3137804/#:~:text=Depression%2C%20the%20common%20psychological%20disorder,the%20global%20burden%20of%20disease.)The lack of access throws families into an agonizing matrix of prohibitively expensive, hard-to-coordinate treatments if they are able to access care at all. This effort could include an [‘operation warp speed](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2027405)‘ type-accelerator for all this promising biomarker research, plus an infusion of resources to provide universal access to therapists and existing treatments right now. Given that all of us know someone or are someone who’s battled this disease, it’s everyone’s issue. The mental health moonshot we need would provide hope and that in and of itself might save lives. The process of finding effective remedies for depression can be so debilitating that just the thought of going through that cycle of trial and error again is unbearable for some patients, like my sister. (Only about a third of those diagnosed with depression get treatment at all. And [a third of those who do get help](https://time.com/4876098/new-hope-for-depression/) find their depression doesn’t respond to treatment.) [William Styron, ](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/175053/darkness-visible-by-william-styron/)whose searing descriptions of depression defined it for generations, wrote about how believing there’s no remedy is what makes the disease intolerable: “It is hopelessness even more than pain that crushes the soul.” **I hang on to hope** by thinking about the researchers who may someday be able to illuminate the darkest places of the mind by replenishing lost star cells. There’s a universe within us, one we need to explore. And research like the discovery of the link between astrocytes and depression is both a wonder of science and a demonstration of a kind of human magic — faith in the power of knowledge to heal.  [Sign up for _It’s Not Just You_ here](https://ti.me/2TwyJHH) to get an essay every Sunday. ---  ## **RESOURCES AND INITIATIVES** For Mental Health Awareness Month, the[**Child Mind Institute**](https://childmind.org/gettingbettertogether/)launched **_Getting Better Together_**– a campaign featuring inspiring, homemade videos from celebrities including **Zoe Saldana,** sharing their personal stories to support kids who are especially struggling during the pandemic and lend a powerful voice to help eliminate stigma, inspire hope, and encourage kids to ask for help. View the videos on their social channels: Twitter:[ @ChildMindInst](https://twitter.com/ChildMindInst?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor); Instagram:[ @childmindinstitute](https://www.instagram.com/childmindinstitute/?hl=en); Facebook:[ facebook.com/ChildMindInstitute](https://www.facebook.com/ChildMindInstitute/)  **In the wake of COVID-19,** millions of people have uncovered new mental health conditions and millions more have had their existing challenges exacerbated. In response to this crisis, more than 500 organizations are teaming up to launch the inaugural ‘Mental Health Action Day’ on May 20\. Learn about resources are available to individuals and what you can do to make mental health care a national priority at: [www.MentalHealthActionDay.org](http://www.mentalhealthactionday.org) ## ## ## ## ## **COPING KIT** [**National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)**](https://www.nami.org/home) [NAMI Connection](https://www.nami.org/Support-Education/Support-Groups/NAMI-Connection) is a support group for people with mental health conditions. Groups meet weekly, every other week or monthly, depending on location. This program is also available in Spanish, NAMI Conexión. [Find the NAMI Connection support group nearest you](https://www.nami.org/Local-NAMI/Programs?classkey=a1x36000003TN9TAAW) [NAMI Family Support Group](https://www.nami.org/Support-Education/Support-Groups/NAMI-Family-Support-Group) is a support group for family members, significant others and friends of people with mental health conditions. Groups meet weekly, every other week or monthly, depending on location. [Find the NAMI Family Support Group nearest you](https://www.nami.org/Find-Your-Local-NAMI/Affiliate/Programs?classkey=a1x36000003TN9LAAW) The NAMI HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–8 p.m., ET. 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or info@nami.org [**Suicide Prevention Lifeline**](https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/) [Crisis Text Line](https://www.crisistextline.org/) Text HOME to 741741 to connect with a Crisis Counselor Free 24/7 support at your fingertips US and Canada: text 741741 UK: text 85258 | Ireland: text 50808 Talk to someone now: [National Suicide Prevention Lifeline](https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/talk-to-someone-now/) 1-800-273-8255 [CHAT WITH LIFELINE](http://chat.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/GetHelp/LifelineChat.aspx) Options For Deaf + Hard of Hearing For TTY Users: Use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 1-800-273-8255. Did someone forward you this newsletter? 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