Alarming Numbers

Photo by Raychan on Unsplash

Did you know that, right now, in the good ol’ USA, 24.6% of 18 to 29-year-olds are currently depressed?

One-quarter of our young adult population.

Currently depressed.

At this moment.

We’re not talking about the percentage of 18 to 29-year-olds who have been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives (that number is 34.3%).

But those who are currently in the thick of it. Those who, when polled, answer yes to the question: “Do you currently have or are you currently being treated for depression?”

A quarter.

A QUARTER!

Wow.

I know this because I’m head over heels captivated with this "solutions for people who aren't getting the results they want from their current depression treatments" project I’m working on (catchy title, huh? I imagine ALL the Fortune 500 companies are going to be pounding down my door, asking me to join their marketing departments after reading that gem).

And there's a part of the project that delves into the depression "State of the Union."

I wanted to know current statistics about depression. Unfortunately, the results are grim—worse than I expected, if we’re being honest. But I guess it makes sense. We did just emerge from a pandemic, after all. And as Arthur C. Brooks, an expert on fulfillment who writes for The Atlantic, likes to point out, "Our society's ideas about happiness are closer to a formula for misery."

Guess there's going to be quite an audience for my project, even if I never come up with a better name, huh? (The greater risk is that I never actually follow through with the project. I have all this information that feels worth sharing, but I'm in over my head when I try to figure out what to do with it.)

In the meantime, while I work on actually taking the information that's floating around in my brain and putting it in a useful format, here are a few things that can help if you or a loved one are struggling with depression:

• Reading Johann Hari's book "Lost Connections" – both incredibly impactful and a joy to read.

• Reading Dr. Kelly Brogan's book "A Mind of Your Own" – impactful, but a little bit more of a dense read.

• Remembering that it's not weird if you're not getting the results you want from your depression treatments. Unfortunately, treatment efficacy for depression is low (specific stats are the next thing I'm working on sharing, but they're harder to dig up. Some sources say 36%, some say 50-60% – either way, lots of people aren't getting the results they want from their treatment protocols). You're not weird, broken, or alone if you haven't YET found a treatment-person fit. Note the YET.

And with that, I'll sign off with a hopeful message:

It's a quote from Andrew Solomon, the author of "The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression." It's a reminder that, with depression, anything that makes you feel better is a legitimate solution. Consider your permission slip signed.

"I'd started off as a medical conservative. I thought there were a few kinds of therapy that worked, it was clear what they were – there was medication, there were certain psychotherapies, there was possibly electroconvulsive treatment, and that everything else was nonsense. But then I discovered something. If you have brain cancer, and you say that standing on your head for 20 minutes every morning makes you feel better, it may make you feel better, but you still have brain cancer, and you'll still probably die from it. But if you say that you have depression, and standing on your head for 20 minutes every day makes you feel better, then it's worked because depression is an illness of how you feel, and if you feel better, then you are effectively not depressed anymore. So I became much more tolerant of the vast world of alternative treatments."

Hoping that our stats as a country drop and that everyone who is looking for a solution finds one,

Keely