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Depression Facts & Statistics

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All Mental Disorders
  • Mental disorders are common in the United States and Internationally. An estimated 22.1% of Americans ages 18 and older (about 1 in 5 adults) suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. When applied to the 2003 U.S. Census residential population estimate, this figure translates to 46.4 million people.
  • In addition, 4 of the 10 leading causes of disability in the U.S. and other developed countries are mental disorders - major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time.
  • Mood disorders cost U.S. employers 16 billion dollars in lost work time annually.
  • Over 90 percent of suicide victims have a diagnosable mental disorder.
  • In the U.S., mental disorders are diagnosed based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV).
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All Depressive Disorders
  • Approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year, have a depressive disorder
  • Depression affects all people regardless of age, geographic location, demographic or social position.
  • Depressive disorders are appearing earlier in life with the average age of onset 50 years ago being 29 whereas recent statistics indicate it at just 14.5yrs in today's society.
  • Nearly twice as many women (12.0 percent) as men (6.6 percent) are affected by a depressive disorder each year. These figures translate to 12.4 million women and 6.4 million men in the U.S.
  • Women between the ages of 25-44 are most often affected by depression with a major cause of depression in women being the inability to express or handle Anger.
  • Depressive disorders often co-occur with anxiety disorders and substance abuse.
  • A recent study sponsored by the World Health Organization and the World Bank found unipolar major depression to be the leading cause of disability in the United States.

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Atypical Depression
  • Despite its name, "atypical" depression is actually the most common subtype of depression, with up to 40% of the depressed population may be classified as having atypical depression.
  • Atypical depression tends to occur earlier in life than other forms of depression — usually beginning in teenage years.
  • Patients with atypical depression are more likely to suffer from other mental illnesses such as social phobia, avoidant personality disorder, or body dysmorphic disorder.
  • Atypical depression is more common in females with nearly 70% of the atypical population being women.

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Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression)
  • Bipolar disorder or manic depression is a disorder characterized by cycles of depression and highs or mania.
  • Bipolar disorder affects approximately 2.3 million American adults, or about 1.2 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year.
  • Men and women are equally likely to develop bipolar disorder.
  • The average age at onset for a first manic episode is the early 20s.

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Childhood Depression
  • Up to 2.5 % of children in the United States suffer from depression.
  • In 1997, suicide was the leading cause of death of 10 to 24-year-olds and in 2000 it was the 3rd leading cause of death among 15 to 24 year olds. All too often suicide is the result of extended periods of depression.
  • An early diagnosis can help children in their emotional, social and behavioral development but can also be hard to detect or masked by other factors.
  • Doctors may be reluctant to put a label of mental illness on a young child.
  • Bipolar disorder in children has been investigated in children as young as 6 years old.

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Clinical Depression (Major Depressive Disorder)
  • Major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and established market economies worldwide.
  • Major depressive disorder affects approximately 9.9 million American adults, or about 5.0 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year.
  • Nearly twice as many women (6.5 percent) as men (3.3 percent) suffer from major depressive disorder each year. These figures translate to 6.7 million women and 3.2 million men.
  • While major depressive disorder can develop at any age, the average age at onset is the mid-20s.

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Cyclothymia (Cyclothymic Disorder)
  • The lifetime prevalence of cyclothymic disorder is 0.4 - 1.0%.
  • The rate appears equal in men or women, though women more often seek treatment.
  • Cyclothymia usually develops early in adult life (late teens to early twenties) and pursues a chronic course, although at times the mood may be normal and stable for months at a time.

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Dysthymia (Dysthymic Disorder)
  • Dysthymia is a less severe type of depression, involving long-term chronic symptoms.
  • Dysthymic disorder affects approximately 5.4 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older during their lifetime. This figure translates to about 10.9 million American adults.
  • About 40 percent of adults with dysthymic disorder also meet criteria for major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder in a given year.
  • Dysthymic disorder often begins in childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood.

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Elderly Depression
  • In a given year, between 1 and 2 percent of people over age 65 living in the community, i.e., not living in nursing homes or other institutions, suffer from major depression and about 2 percent have dysthymia.
  • Recent NIMH studies show that 13 to 27 percent of older adults have subclinical depressions that do not meet the diagnostic criteria for major depression or dysthymia but are associated with increased risk of major depression, physical disability, medical illness, and high use of health services.
  • Suicide is more common among the elderly than in any other age group. In studies of older adults who committed suicide, nearly all had major depression, typically a first episode, though very few had a substance abuse disorder.
  • Suicide among white males aged 85 and older was nearly six times the national U.S. rate (65 per 100,000 compared with 11 per 100,000) in 1996, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
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Melancholic Depression
  • Melancholic Depression, or 'depression with melancholic features' is a subtype of depression characterized by the inability to find pleasure in positive things combined with physical agitation, insomnia, or decreased appetite
  • Approximately 10% of people with depression suffer from Melancholic Depression.

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Mixed Anxiety-Depressive Disorder
  • Mixed anxiety-depressive disorder is a new diagnostic category defining patients who suffer from both anxiety and depressive symptoms of limited and equal intensity accompanied by at least some autonomic features.
  • Patients diagnosed with MADD do not meet the criteria for specific anxiety disorders or depressive disorders
  • Although specific prevalence rates for MADD are not clear, direction may be obtained by the National Comorbidity Survey (2005), indicating 58% of patients diagnosed with major depression were also found to have an anxiety disorder.

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Postpartum Depression
  • Studies report prevalence rates from 5% to 25%, but methodological differences among the studies make the actual prevalence rate unclear.
  • Postpartum depression ranges in severity from mild to suicidal.
  • Postpartum depression (also postnatal depression) is a form of major depression which can affect women, and less frequently men, after childbirth.
  • Although up to 80% of postpartum women suffer from the 'Baby blues' (or maternity blues) which is merely a mild and transitory form of 'moodiness' where symptoms typically last from a few hours to several days, and include tearfulness, irritability, hypochondriasis, sleeplessness, impairment of concentration, isolation and headache. The maternity blues are not considered a postpartum depressive disorder.

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Suicide and Depression
  • In 2001, 30,622 people died by suicide in the U.S.
  • More than 90 percent of people who take their own lives have a diagnosable mental disorder, commonly a depressive disorder or a substance abuse disorder.
  • The highest suicide rates in the U.S. are found in white men over age 85.
  • In 2000, suicide was the 3rd leading cause of death among 15 to 24 year olds.
  • Four times as many men as women die by suicide; however, women attempt suicide 2-3 times as often as men.
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Teenage Depression
Diagnosing depression in children and teenagers is often difficult because early symptoms can be hard to detect or may be attributed to other causes. Children and adolescents are going through rapid, age-related physical and emotional changes that may mask and accurate diagnosis.
  • Up to 8.3 percent of adolescents in the United States suffer from depression.
  • Recent research has discovered that depression onset is occurring earlier in individuals born in more recent decades.
  • There is evidence that depression emerging early in life often persists, recurs, and continues into adulthood, and that early onset depression may predict more severe illness in adult life.
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