psychology life facts.

Depression.

1) Even positive events such as graduating, getting married, or starting a new job can lead to depression.

2) Nearly 30% of people with substance abuse problems also suffer from depression.

3) Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression than men. Women may be at a higher risk for depression due in part to estrogen, which may alter the activity of neurotransmitters that contribute to depression.

4) At some point in their lives, about one in four Americans will experience depression.

5) Men typically experience depression differently from women and use different means to cope. For example, while women may feel hopeless, men may feel irritable. Women may crave a listening ear, while men may become socially withdrawn or become violent or abusive.

6) Researchers have recently found that those who suffer from depression are at risk for low bone mineral density. Depressed women are especially at risk for developing osteoporosis.

7) More than 20 million people in the United States suffer from depression in a given year.

8) In established market economies such as the United States, depression is the leading form of mental illness.

9) As many as 15% of those who suffer from some form of depression take their lives each year.

10) According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), more than 6% of children suffer from depression and 4.9% of them have major depression.

11) Self-mutilation (cutting or burning) is one way in which individuals show they are depressed.

12) Because the brains of older people are more vulnerable to chemical abnormalities, they are more likely than young people to suffer depression.

13) During the Middle Ages, mentally ill people were seen to be under the influence of the devil or other evil spirits.

14) The first mental asylum in the U.S opened in 1773 in Williamsburg, Virginia.

15) Freud, who revolutionized the practice of psychiatry with his theories of the unconscious, postulated that depression comes from anger turned against oneself.

16) Approximately 80% sufferers of depression are not receiving treatment.

17) Recent research suggests that depression can shorten the lives of people with cancer by years.

18) Bipolar disorder, or manic depression, affects nearly 6 million American adults in a given year.

19) Researchers have found a direct relationship between depression and the thickening of the lining of the carotid artery in women, a major risk factor for stroke.

20) The high rate of home foreclosures have plunged many homeowners into depression. Researchers suggest that the foreclosure crisis is, consequently, a health crisis.

21) When children have both asthma and depression, their asthma typically is worse than that of asthmatic children who are not depressed.

22) The average video gamer is typically 35-year-old male who is most likely depressed, overweight, and introverted.

23) Once men hit midlife, they may face an increased risk of depression due to the decrease of testosterone.

24) Depression may aggravate inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

25) Sufferers of depression may experience more cognitive impairment on less sunny days than on sunny days.

26) A depressed woman is more likely to give birth early, increasing health risks for both the woman and the baby. Between 14 and 23% of pregnant women experience some sort of depressive disorder.