Stop Depression

Depression Statistics—Determining Your Risk

Reviewing the news reveals that depression is becoming all too common among adults and children alike.  It is very important that you are able to recognize the signs of depression. Learning about a few depression statistics will make you more aware and help you to recognize these symptoms.  Being aware of data correlations, risk factors, and statistics associated with depression can help you to understand how high your own personal risk is for depression.  Knowing whether your risk is high or low will better prepare you to monitor your own personal health.

Facts And Figures

Ten percent of the population, which works out to be 19 million Americans, is affected by depression in any given year.  The depression statistics regarding males and females indicate that women suffer from depression nearly twice as often as men.  More specifically, anywhere from 10% to 25% of women will suffer from depression during their lifetime and approximately 5% to 12% of men will suffer from clinical depression.  Although depression is known to affect people of all races, ages, and incomes, it is three to five times more likely that older people will suffer from depression as compared to younger people.

While there are several different classifications of depression, the most commonly diagnosed form of depression is major depression.  Of all the people who suffer from depression, two thirds of them fail to seek treatment.  It is currently recognized that half of all suicides are a result of people with untreated depression.  However, for the one-third of the population that opts not to seek treatment for depression, 80%-90% experience only brief periods of depression.  Depression statistics indicate that costs associated with may well amount to over 30 billion dollars every year. 

What is the Risk?

In addition to depression statistics, looking at the risk factors can also help you to determine what your personal risk for depression is.  Scientific research on twins indicates that depression tends to be genetic. If you have a family history of depression, you are more likely to experience depression at some point during your life.  Additionally, a form of depression known as postpartum depression occurs in females who have just given birth. This may put you at risk as well.  Finally, many people suffer from depression after experiencing unpleasant events in their life. 

Perfect Prevention

The only way to prevent depression is to first determine what your risk is, and then monitor your feelings and behavior so that you may recognize the onset of symptoms. Depression statistics provide considerable insight toward determining your risk of suffering from depression.