Depression Statistics

Someone once said that Depression Statistics are depressing, and in truth the statistics showing how many Americans are depressed are staggering. For instance, The National Institute of Mental Health, referred to as NIMH, has said that depression strikes approximately 17 million adults each year in America.

Unfortunately that’s much more than coronary heart disease, AIDS and even more than cancer! Further they report that in their estimate, 15 percent of chronic depression cases will end in suicide. Women are said to be twice as likely as men to be chronically depressed. Also 90% of suicides had a diagnosable mental illness and it was usually a depressive disorder.

Other Depression Statistics point out that approximately 80-90% of all cases can be effectively and successfully treated. This information is borne by the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

The National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association has stated that an estimated $43 billion a year is lost to depression. Mostly this is attributed to medical costs, lost productivity and of course absenteeism from the work force. Also, 80-90% of people who have a serious mental illness are unemployed.

There are three different types of depression, bipolar or manic depression, major depression and finally dysthymia. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has stated that major depression may affect as many as 15% of Americans at some point during their lives.

Manor depression is said to come in episodes, whereas dysthymia does not come in episodes at all, but rather is persistent through many years. According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, Depression Statistics point to almost 10 million Americans that may have dysthymia each year.

Bipolar or manic depression is much less common, as it is reported in Depression Statistics that only approximately 6 million or 3% of Americans are affected by this kind of depression in a given year.

Family history plays an important part in depression as genes may carry depression to family members. For instance if an identical pair of twins are studied, and one has depression, then the other has a 70% chance of having depression!

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has reported that having a serious medical illness will also cause depression. For instance of those who have had a heart attack, they will have a 40% chance of feeling depressed.

Truly frightening on the topic of Depression Statistics is the fact that roughly 80% of people who are currently experiencing depression symptoms are not receiving treatment. Also 4% of adolescents will develop serious depression and truly unfortunate is the fact that suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for those aged 10 to 24 years old. It is also expected that depression will become the world’s 2nd most universal health problem by the year 2020.

I thought you may be interested in reading some of the bullet points contained in this post about depression pictures.

Depression Statistics

statistics on depression

Depression Statistics

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