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October 10, 2024 9 mins

This question is surprisingly difficult answer, in no small part due to the stigma against discussing mental health. Learn about researchers' best estimates for the prevalence of depression around the world and in the U.S. in this episode of BrainStuff, with material from this article: https://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/depression/facts/depression.htm

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey You brain Stuff,
Lauren Vogelbaum. Here just a heads up. Our episode today
deals with mental health and depression. So if you're not
up for that right now, take care of yourself, okay, okay.
One of these symptoms of depression is feeling singularly lonely,

(00:26):
as though no one could understand how low you're feeling,
or that you're alone, even among friends or family. And
to be fair, everyone's experiences on this planet are singular
and individual. But depression is really pretty common. But answering
the question of how common is it is really complicated.

(00:49):
First off, by depression, I mean feelings of sadness, emptiness,
or irritability that affect one's capacity to function. On a
global scale. It's estimated that somewhere between three point eight
percent and four point four percent of human beings experience depression,
something like three hundred million people, give or take a

(01:12):
few dozen million. And I know that is an infuriatingly
imprecise statistic, but depression can be difficult to put a
finger on, and nonetheless, it is a serious issue. The
World Health Organization ranks it as the single largest contributor
to disability on the planet. Of course, depressive conditions aren't

(01:34):
evenly and randomly distributed throughout the world. A depression can
affect anyone regardless of who you are and where you
are in life, but it is more common in certain populations. Globally,
it's most common in older adults ages fifty five to
seventy four. Ish Women are about fifty percent more likely

(01:55):
than men to experience it. It's most prevalent in people's
with the incomes, but those in zones of active conflict
and those living with chronic physical illnesses, which really only
makes sense. When you start getting a little more granular,
the statistics start getting weirder. Rates of depressive disorders are

(02:18):
higher in North America than anywhere else in the world
because of Greenland, which is the most depressed country or territory. Technically,
there's more depression in high income countries than in middle
income countries. In different cultures, factors like never having been
married or having a low level of education might make

(02:40):
you more likely to have depression or way less. All
of this speaks to how complex depression is. Science still
doesn't know exactly how it works, though, as we have
said on the show before, researchers think it's a combination
of genetics, biochemistry, psychology, and environmental factors like stressors, which

(03:02):
can vary from culture to culture. And part of the
issue is how we trap depression. You can look at
actual medical diagnoses, but that doesn't cover people who never
see a doctor if a doctor is even available. Around
the world, it's estimated that less than twenty five percent
of people with depression have access to proper care. You

(03:25):
can look at surveys, but you have to take into
consideration what questions were being asked based on which diagnostic criteria.
A science is updating its considerations about depression all the time.
You also have to trust that the people who were
surveyed were being honest. Researchers make best guess estimates based
on available data. But okay, what if we narrow our

(03:50):
question of how common depression is down to the United States,
because that's where brain stuff is based. One great source
of data here is the National Survey on Drug Use
and Health, which is a large annual survey of tens
of thousands of Americans conducted by the US Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration. They then use that data

(04:12):
to extrapolate out to the general American population. As of
twenty twenty three, they found that eight point five percent
of adults ages eighteen and older had experienced at least
one episode of major depression in the past year. And okay,
I want to break that down by age group because

(04:33):
it is dark. In people ages fifteen older, only four
point five percent had had a major depressive episode. In
ages twenty six to forty nine years, it was ten
point two percent, and in ages eighteen to twenty five
years it was seventeen point five percent. And then they
also survey at adolescence. In adolescence ages twelve to seventeen years,

(04:58):
the rate was even higher, eighteen point one percent had
had at least one major depressive episode. That's a grand
estimated total of twenty six point one million people who
experienced clinical depression in the US in twenty twenty three.
But even this excellent survey may not be telling the

(05:20):
full story because it excludes people who are houseless, active
duty military personnel, and residents of institutions like jails and
nursing homes, people for whom depression is probably even more common. Also,
the survey is still relying on self reported symptoms and
humans are historically bad at self reporting symptoms of depression

(05:44):
because of the societal stigma against mental illnesses. For a
quick example of how this can play out, let's go
back to that statistic about the prevalence of depression in
women versus men. So women are about twice as likely
to experience depression, but we don't know why. Researchers are
studying a myriad of possible links, including hormones, genetics, and

(06:07):
other biological factors, but there are also psychosocial factors to consider.
One theory is that men are less likely to be
counted because they're less likely to seek help. While men
tend to be willing to admit to fatigue, irritability, changes
in sleep patterns, and a loss of interest in activities,
they typically don't share about feelings of sadness or worthlessness.

(06:32):
They're more likely than women to use alcohol or other
drugs to mask their feelings. Women, on the other hand,
are more likely to acknowledge feelings of sadness, guilt, and worthlessness.
Stigma that is prejudice against mental illness is real. It
carries across cultures and has been going on for millennia.

(06:56):
Despite the fact that we now know that factors like
brain chemistry are at work in depression, there are still
prejudices that paint depression as weakness or shameful, and therefore
paint depressive behaviors as lazy or some kind of moral failure.
When people internalize the stigma, it can feed into those

(07:16):
feelings of sadness, emptiness, and irritability that mark depression in
the first place. This could make it even harder for
people with depression to seek help and to follow through
treatment and mental health maintenance. And although depression is highly treatable,
it's also not something that can be cured like a
simple infection. About fifty percent of people who experience one

(07:41):
episode of depression will experience a recurrence at some point
in their lives, and the more often they relapse, the
more likely they are to continue to do so. All
of these statistics and the question marks around them sound
a little depressing. Is there a measure of how completely

(08:02):
usual depression really is? If you're concerned about yourself for
a loved one, the first step is always to talk
to a healthcare professional, even a family doctor or online service,
to rule out other physical issues and get started with
a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Because symptoms and severity

(08:22):
are singular and individual that might involve medication, talk, therapy,
or a combination of both, with an eye on building
a sort of toolkit of awareness and management and lifestyle
strategies to carry with you into the future, no matter
how complicated it seems. Today's episode was written by me

(08:48):
with additional material from the article how depression Works on
how stuffworks dot Com, written by Maria TREMARKI brain Stuff
is production by Heart Radio in partnership with how Stuffworks
dot Com and is produced by Tyler Kuang. Four more
podcasts from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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