The focus of this issue of GBE kompakt is depression. Depressive disorders are among the most significant mental disorders. Due to their frequency, complications and consequences, they are of outstanding importance with regard to policy and economics. One stable result of all studies is the difference between women and men in prevalence of depression. Women are affected approximately twice as frequently as men.

Stephan Müters, Jens Hoebel and Cornelia Lange describe major reasons for the gender-specific differences in depression. Furthermore, they analyze the data of the GEDA study to investigate the interrelationships between social characteristics (socio-economic status, employment, social support e.g.)  and diagnosed depression.