The prevalence, clinical relevance, and public health significance of subthreshold depressions

The research reviewed in this article heralds a new paradigm in understanding the progression of clinical depression through various overlapping stages of severity, which begin at the seemingly "subclinical" level of depressive symptoms. This conceptualization in turn dictates a public health approach, which emphasizes that treatment of major depressive disorder even at the deceptively mild levels of symptoms should be initiated or maintained.