The economic costs from the psychological affliction of depression have gotten significantly larger in recent years—and people suffering from that condition were hit particularly hard by the 2008 financial crisis, a new study has found. Annual costs related to major depressive disorder rose to $210.5 billion in 2010, according to the study published Wednesday in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. That represents a 21 percent increase over the $173.3 billion in overall annual economic fallout linked to sufferers of the disorder as of 2005, the report noted. Read MoreAudit zings Obamacare guru

"The current study adds to our understanding of MDD as a source of significant economic burden," the report's authors wrote.

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The report, which drew on data from insurance claims in the OptumHealth Reporting and Insights database, leads off with the observation that in the U.S., depression "is the leading cause of disability for people aged 15-44, resulting in almost 400 million disability days per year, substantially more than more other physical and mental conditions."

And more people were suffering from that affliction in 2010 compared to 2005, the report said. Read MoreMedicaid gains, uninsured ratedown

During that five-year time span, the number of people suffering from depression grew from 13.8 million to 15.4 million, with the fastest rate of increase seen among people older than the age 50.

"Worsening economic conditions after the 2008 downturn took a particularly heavy toll" on those people, noted the report, whose lead author, Paul Greenberg, is a managing principal at the Boston-based economic consulting firm Analysis Group.

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Among sufferers of major depressive disorder, there was a 6.2 percentage point increase in the rate of people who were either unemployed or not looking for work, the report noted. In contrast, people without MDD saw just a 3.8 percentage point increase, study found.

Breaking down the costs