Statistics about Depression and Suicide
It has been shown time and time again that depression and suicide are linked and intertwined in many ways
Often, depression goes undiagnosed when prevention of suicide was possible. The most effective way to prevent suicide is through early awareness, detection, diagnosis, and effective treatment of depression as well as other mental health conditions (including alcoholism). Some staggering statistics are below. They are cited from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Understanding Suicide: Fact Sheet for 2015.
SUICIDE
- In 2015, 44,193 suicide deaths were reported.
- Currently, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.
- A person dies due to suicide approximately every 11.9 minutes in the United States.
- Each day, about 121 Americans take their own life.
- Ninety percent of all people who die by suicide have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death.
- There are 3.5 male suicides for every female suicide, but three times as many females as males attempt suicide.
- In 2014, 469,096 people visited a hospital for injuries due to self-harm behavior, suggesting that approximately 11 people harm themselves (not necessarily intending to take their lives) for every reported death by suicide.
- Suicide was the second leading cause of death for adults between the ages of 10 and 34 years in the United States.
DEPRESSION
- Over 50 percent of all people who die by suicide suffer from major depression. If one includes alcoholics who are depressed, this figure rises to over 75 percent.
- 25 million Americans suffer from depression each year.
- Depression affects nearly 5-8 percent of Americans ages 18 and over in a given year.
- More Americans suffer from depression than coronary heart disease, cancer, and HIV/AIDS.
- Depression is among the most treatable of psychiatric illnesses. Between 80 percent and 90 percent of people with depression respond positively to treatment, and almost all patients gain some relief from their symptoms. But first, depression has to be detected.