Writer Ileana Bravo is an Emmy award-winning journalist, formerly a television health specialist in Miami and other NBC owned & operated stations nationwide for over 10 years. She brings a depth of knowledge and experience as a media specialist and Contributing Editor to LifeQuote.

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If you are one of the estimated 19 million Americans diagnosed with depression and taking drugs such as Prozac, Zoloft, Xanax, Paxil, Wellbutrin and other popular medicines for anxiety and depression chances are you can still get affordable life insurance.

Use of antidepressants has become almost commonplace in the United States. A 2002 study by Columbia University researchers found that the percentage of people with a diagnosis of depression that were treated with antidepressants in an outpatient setting increased from 37.3 percent in 1987 to 74.5 percent in 1997.

And a survey done by Harvard in 2005, found that most patients suffer from a variety of mental health disorders, such as anxiety, mood imbalances and impulse-control disorders at some time in their life but most cases are mild and short-lived.

That is good news if you are one of those patients because if you can prove to the insurance company that your symptoms were mild and that you were successfully treated and stable for a period of time, you might even qualify for preferred-priced life insurance premiums, assuming you are otherwise in good health.

"Honesty is the best policy when it comes to disclosing your medical conditions," says Eugene C. Gordon, founder of LifeQuote™, a leading online life insurance broker. "Life insurers are concerned about health issues that might shorten a person´s life but well-documented cases of mental illness with positive outcomes should not be considered a significant risk for them," adds Mr. Gordon.

Antidepressants are prescribed for a range of conditions beyond the most common forms of depression such as postpartum depression, panic disorders, social anxiety, sleep apnea and smoking addiction. These cases, along with anxiety attacks or bouts of depression brought on by tragedy-often will not cost you more in life insurance premiums if you can show the insurer you have recovered and can prove you are off medication and counseling for at least a year.

Even the more serious cases of clinical depression, such as bipolar disorders or manic depression, should not necessarily prevent you from getting good life insurance prices. More serious mental health problems, including suicide attempts, can send up red flags and will likely result in a policy denial, unless insurers can see well-documented evidence of recovery and aggressive psychiatric treatment.

As with any medical condition, life insurers will look for detailed medical records to assess your case and determine the type of rate to offer. Life insurance specialists say it is best to wait about six months after an initial diagnosis and treatment for depression before applying for a policy. That way, insurers can track your treatment and can perhaps offer you a better price on your life insurance.

The postscript is--- you are not alone if you are part of the millions in this country who have symptoms of mental health disorders. But if your condition is under control, affordable life insurance might be available to you.

Harvard survey findings:

• Anxiety disorders, experienced by nearly 29% of Americans during their lifetime, are the most-prevalent class of mental illness.
• Mood disorders are experienced by 20.8% of Americans.
• Impulse-control disorders are experienced by 24.8% of Americans.
• Substance disorders are seen in 14.6% of Americans.
• Only 41% of patients with disorders lasting 12 months sought treatment.