Next Steps for Depression Treatment When you're suffering from chronic depression, life seems, well, lifeless. What if medications and therapy don't work? Dr. Jeffrey Bennett, psychiatrist at SIU School of Medicine, explains the next steps to ward off the shadows of depression. Depression is a serious medical illness affecting more than 14 million American adults every year, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health. Researchers believe that just 10 years from now, depression will be the second leading cause of disability worldwide. Each year, more than 30,000 people in the United