Decoding Depression: Exploring the Environome Across Life Course

Depression is a central marker in mental health issues due to its widespread prevalence, significant disability burden, and extensive social and economic impacts. The COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing conflicts, natural disasters, and the climate crisis have exacerbated mental health challenges across populations, necessitating robust and adaptive policy responses, particularly affecting youth and individuals with pre-existing conditions linked to e.g., genetic, biological, medical, psychological, social and environmental factors. These global events highlight the need for comprehensive mental health strategies that can withstand and mitigate such polycrises. The European Commission has recognised this urgency through its political guidelines for 2024-2029, with a renewed commitment to mental health as a key component of its preventive health strategies and social policies. It issued a Comprehensive Approach on Mental Healthe on June 7th, 2023, to address the urgent need for action on mental health and depression. In line with President Ursula von der Leyen's strategic priorities, the Commission's approach integrates mental health into broader socio-economic initiatives, including anti-poverty, social rights, affordable housing, and health plans aimed at fostering resilience and inclusivity. This report draws on scientific knowledge and insights from transdisciplinary healthcare professionals alongside lived experience experts, gathered during the scientific workshop “Crowdsourcing Knowledge on Depression Mechanisms: From Risk Factors to Treatment” held at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in April 2023, and further refined in a co-editing workshop in June 2024, “Decoding Depression: A Life Course Exploration of Vulnerabilities through Transdisciplinary Inquiry”. It emphasises the complex, environome-driven nature of depression, where personal, social, natural, and built environments converge to shape mental health outcomes. Central to our approach is embracing the advancements from various disciplines, including life sciences, environmental studies, education, and technological innovation. The report champions a One Health Governance and transdisciplinary collaboration to address the multifaceted challenges of depression, integrating insights from a broad spectrum of scientific and societal perspectives. It identifies seven key areas essential to tackling depression: healthcare and social inclusion, education, arts with an emphasis on cultural sensitivity and equity, technology and digital tools, labor market and economics, humanitarian considerations alongside local and global welfare, urban planning and environmental health. These categories, underpinned by the Commission's framework, are integral to formulating comprehensive policies that apply the multifaceted evidence-based scientific nature of depression. An evolving Interactive Depression Dashboard (InDepDash) has been created as a dynamic, centralised information hub, offering a comprehensive navigation and synthesis of the extensive and evolving scientific literature on depression. It supports the strategic vision of the European Commission by providing an evidence-based digital platform for policy-makers, helping to guide decision-making processes and fostering a culture of Open Science. We focus on identifying essential policy interventions that span prevention, the spectrum of supportive resources —both conventional and alternative— and recovery processes.JRC.F.7 - Digital Healt

Decoding Depression and Environmental Influences: Vulnerabilities and Policy Insights

The Dissemination Brochure and the Introductory and Demo videos provide a comprehensive overview of the Joint Research Centre's (JRC) science for policy work on depression, framed within the European Commission's Comprehensive Approach to Mental Health initiative. The material aims to bridge the gap between complex scientific research and public communication, making the findings accessible to a broad audience, including policymakers and stakeholders, during the critical 2024-2029 European Commission period. Highlighting the outcomes from pivotal workshops, the Brochure and videos show the synthesis of evidence and policy recommendations emerging from the scientific workshop “Crowdsourcing Knowledge on Depression Mechanisms: From Risk Factors to Treatment” and the subsequent co-editing workshop “Decoding Depression: A Life Course Exploration of Vulnerabilities through Transdisciplinary Inquiry.” These events, hosted by the EC JRC, united healthcare professionals, scientists, and individuals with lived experience to explore the mechanisms of depression through a collaborative, transdisciplinary approach. Furthermore, both videos showcases innovative digital health tools developed by the EC JRC, such as the SciWalker and the MAATrica digital metric, with a particular focus on the 'InDepDash' platform. InDepDash, an interactive dashboard, provides policymakers with a panoramic view of global data on depression, enabling informed, evidence-based decisions and promoting mental health resilience within society. Through this communication videos and the Brochure, we aim to elucidate the EC JRC's dedicated efforts in advancing mental health policy and practice through state-of-the-art science and technology.JRC.F.7 - Digital Healt