It is estimated that there are between 10 percent and 25 percent of women and five percent and 12 percent of men will experience a major depressive episode at some point in their lives. While sadness, loss, passing mood states, or other normal emotional experiences are not persistent (may last up to 16 weeks), major depression leads to role impairment, reduced productivity and severe physical symptoms.
A typical MDD patient has an average of 35 days a year when he/she is unable to work or carry out normal everyday activities. Major depression increases risk of stroke, hypertension, heart disease and death due to heart attack. Research shows that about 57 percent of patients with MDD are treated for depression and only one in five of the patients receiving adequate treatment, which is usually antidepressants and psychotherapy.
Suicide is the 11th cause of death in the United States, as it kills 31,000 people each year and severely inflicts injuries on another 425,000 each year. The most suicides are committed in April. People who commit suicedes have one of the following conditions: clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, postpartum depression, alcohol or drug abuse, PTSD, and chronic pain.
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A thinning in the right hemisphere of the brain may be associated with a higher risk for depression, U.S. researchers report. The study showed that those with depression in their family history had a 28% thinning of the right cortex (the brain outermost surface). So here is a proof that depression might be hereditary. Read more: Brain ‘Thinning’ May Indicate Susceptibility to Depression
Up to 20% of young people in United States experience a mental health issue each year. Symptoms that start in childhood occur in half of the adults who have mental, emotional and behavioral disorders. A number of school-, home- and community-based programs have successful records in preventing such conditions as depression, anxiety, behavioral issues and substance abuse. These programs are apparently worth duplicating across the country. Read more: U.S. Asked to Do More for Kids’ Mental Health
A recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology has found that being depressed could increase the likelihood that a person gets hit or killed by heart disease. Other known factors of heart diseases are smoking, hypertension and unhealthy cholesterol levels. Read more: Depression may Cause Heart Disease and Related Death
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- Every forth suicide in the US is felt to be due to undiagnosed, or misdiagnosed major depression.
- Depressive disorders affect approximately 18.8 million of American adults or about 9.5% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year, including major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and bipolar disorder.
- Up to 80% of suicides are committed by sufferers of major depression.
- People of all ages, backgrounds, lifestyles, and nationalities suffer from major depression, with almost no exception.
- Up to 20% of all people experience symptoms of depression.
- The average age of first onset of major depressive disorder is between 25 and 29.
- 15% of the population of most developed countries suffers severe depression.
- 30% of women are depressed. Men’s figures are half that of women, or higher.
- 54% of people believe that depression is a personal weakness.
- 41% of depressed women are too embarrassed to seek help.
- Two-thirds of people suffering from depression do not seek necessary treatment.
- Depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020 (some studies show depression is a contributory factor to coronary disease that leads to death).
- Standard antipressants, SSRIs such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, have been revealed to have serious risks linked to suicide, violence, psychosis, abnormal bleeding and brain tumors.
- Antidepressants work for less than 35% of the depressed population, as recent studies suggest.
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