[Depression is a XXI century challenge].

Depression is one of the most relevant and discussed problems at the present stage of psychiatry's development, both in numerous scientific studies and in the media. Described for the first time several millennia ago, depressive states have been embodied in numerous cultural monuments dating back to antiquity and ancient Egypt. As early as the fifth century, Byzantine literature described "gratuitous sorrow" (John Cassian the Roman), corresponding to the modern understanding of endogenous depression.