Interesting Depression Facts You might never knew!

Many depression facts abound, which are unknown to most people. For example, many people erroneously take grief or sadness, which is a normal reaction to a saddening circumstance, for depression. Little wonder, we often hear the statement, “I’m depressed” from people, when in reality, most of them are not.
Here, you will get to learn some depression facts and statistics, which will be of interest to you.

Depression facts and statistics

• In the US alone, depression affects about 18.8 million people or about 10% of the country’s population age of 18 and above. In other words, one out of every ten Americans above age 18 is depressed!

• Worldwide, the prevalence of depression is about 25% of the total population. This implies that one out of every of every four persons worldwide is depressed. Yet another shocker!

• Everyone will at some point in time in their lives be affected by depression – either their own or that of someone else.

• Pre-schoolers are now the fastest growing market for antidepressant medications. Would you believe that 4% of this category of people is depressed? Yes, that’s the truth!

• Even children are not spared, as there are millions of reported cases of depressed children in one year. A shocking revelation is that 23% of children experience depression annually.

• Of all women, one-third, or 30%, is depressed. Yes, you read right. One out of every 3 women is depressed – no thanks to factors such as stress, pregnancy, work and marital problems.

• Depression affects about 15% of males. Therefore, it affects men and women in the ratio 1 to 2 respectively.

• Just as we have many people being gripped by depression, many others, though not depressed, have a very erroneous conception of the disorder. In fact, about 55% of the general populace believes depression is a personal weakness rather than a psychological disorder. In other words, one out of every two people does not know what depression really is.

• One of the most interesting postpartum depression facts is that it also affects males, though rarely. Affected males show signs of depression weeks to months after their wives had a baby!

• About 41% of depressed people are too shy to seek help, even though they know they are in dire need of it. This is one reason why most people do not get medical attention as timely as possible, leading to the disorder progressing into the advanced stages, which present signs of psychosis, such as hallucinations and delusions, and suicide. So, shyness kills!

• About 80% of depressed people are currently not undergoing any form of treatment. The same applies to every single point in time. This is another major reason why the disorder develops into its advanced stages.

• About 92% of African-American males do not even seek any treatment at all! You can now see why depression is one of the major causes of death worldwide.

• About 80% of people who visit the doctor for one complaint or the other are depressed. Isn’t this rather shocking?

• Depression is the number one cause of absenteeism, costing employers about $50 billion annually due to lost productivity. Therefore, depression also has a negative impact on the economy. With this, don’t you think it should be declared a global disaster, threat, or emergency?

• Currently, depression is the fourth cause of disability and death worldwide and has been projected to climb up to second position by 2020.