Close to 8 percent of Americans have depression of some kind, but only about a third of those are getting treated for it, a major federal survey finds. The most depressed group? Women ages 40 to 59. More than 12 percent of women that age say they’re depressed. The least? Teenage boys. Just 4 percent of them have been diagnosed with depression.
“During 2009–2012, 7.6 percent of Americans aged 12 and over had depression (moderate or severe depressive symptoms in the past 2 weeks),” Laura Pratt and Debra Brody of the National Center for Health Statistics wrote.
“About 3 percent of Americans aged 12 and over had severe depressive symptoms,” they added. “Of those with severe symptoms, 35 percent reported having contact with a mental health professional in the past year.”
This is troubling, because depression is difficult to treat and does best when people are given a combination of drugs and counseling. People living below the poverty level were more than twice as likely to have depression than people making more money. Almost 43 percent of people with severe depressive symptoms reported serious difficulties in work, home and social activities.
IN-DEPTH
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