15 statistics about depression

Depression is a disorder that has been associated with high comorbidity with other psychological disorders, as well as health problems such as diabetes and heart disease.

It is considered the main reason why people commit suicide and, despite the great advances against Despite the stigma, many myths about the disorders are still believed today. depressive.

Next we will see various statistics about depression which shows how serious the problem is, the importance of following a treatment and the need to inform the population about its consequences at the level of health, work, family and economic.

• Related article: "Types of depression: its symptoms, causes and characteristics"

15 statistics about depression

Depression is a very common mental disorder, which has been associated with high comorbidity. with other disorders, especially anxiety disorders, as well as various illnesses medical.

Here you will find a few data, accompanied by their percentages, figures and sources, which expose the statistics on depression and its follow-up in the last 10 years.

1. Number of people with depression

As we were already commenting, depression is a very common mental disorder. The World Health Organization (WHO) points out that more than 300 million people could be diagnosed with a depressive disorder. However, there are statistics that are even more pessimistic, indicating that this figure would already reach close to 350 million people.

To better understand these figures, the fact that there are some 350 million people with depression would be equivalent to the current population of Spain multiplied by seven. The percentage of people who suffer from it throughout their lives would be between 8% and 15%

2. depression and suicide

Although not all people who commit suicide are people with a mood disorder, It should be noted that a significant percentage of them do commit suicide because they do not see an end to their suffering.

Every year close to 800,000 people end their lives, being the second cause of death among people between the ages of 15 and 29.

Given the high risk of suicide in the population with depressive disorders, it is of the utmost importance to understand how the disorder originates and to sophisticate psychological and pharmacological treatments.

In the case of Spain, the risk of suicide is 21 times higher in the depressed population compared to the general. The suicide rate in Spain is 7 per 100,000 inhabitants, which means 10 deaths every day.

3. Percentage of people who receive treatment

Despite the fact that there are effective treatments and in which few technical resources are required to be applied, more than half of the population affected by depression worldwide does not receive any treatment.

The percentages vary depending on the country, but in those that are still developing or that have suffered a war conflict recently, the percentage of depressed people without receiving any treatment can reach 90%.

4. depression in europe

Throughout the old continent there are countries with high cases of depression. The ranking places Germany as the country with the most cases, having more than 4 million, followed by Italy and France, with more than 3 million each and, in fourth place, is Spain, with more than two million.

to better understand the number of depressed people in Spain, it is enough to imagine the entire population of Castilla y León (2.5 million) depressed.

5. Percentages by gender

In all European countries, and in line with the global trend, there are more cases of depressed women (5.1% of all women) than depressed men (3.6% of all men). In the case of Spain, depression affects 9.2% of women, while in men it affects 4%.

In Spain, the risk of the general population developing an episode of severe depression once in their lives is, as might be expected, double in women (16.5%) than in men (8.9%).

• You may be interested in: "The 6 types of mood disorders"

6. Risk of having depression once in a lifetime

Factors such as being under 29 or over 55, poverty, unemployment or drug addiction recreational activities, tobacco or alcohol increase the percentages. The prevalence of depression is double in people who are unemployed (9.2) compared to those who are working (3.1%).

7. Depression in children population

In the child population worldwide, the WHO estimates that 2% of children between the ages of 6 and 12 suffer from depression. The percentage increases in the range from 12 to 14 years, ranging between 4% and 6%.

8. drug use

The statistics regarding drug use in Spain are as follows: about 10.7% of the population consume tranquilizers, relaxants or sleeping pills (13.9% in women and 7.4% in men), 4.8% antidepressants (6.7% in women and 2.7% in the men).

9. Seeking professional help

5.4% of the Spanish population indicates having seen a mental health professional, be it a psychologist or psychiatrist at least once in the last year (6.1% of women and 4.6% of men).

10. Economic impact

According to data from the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), depression costs member countries up to 4% of GDP. Although this is data from a decade ago, it was estimated that the depression in 2010 cost the European Union 92,000 million euros.

has been linked the loss of productivity caused by absenteeism and presenteeism around 50% of all costs related in one way or another to depression.

11. abandonment of treatment

It is worrying to see that about half of the patients, 43%, abandon the treatment.

It is known that a large number of patients who continue treatment do not follow it to the letter, especially if it is psychopharmacological. This is because some antidepressants take several weeks to work, and patients want short-term results.

12. Disability, health problems and hospitalization

In Spain, depression causes a complete functional disability of 47 days a year on average, a partial functional disability of 60 days a year.

Depression has been associated with a risk factor for physical diseases, especially those related to the heart or metabolic problems such as diabetes. In Europe, depression represents more than 7% of premature mortality.

The inverse relationship has also been investigated, finding that about 21.5% (16.3% in men and 31.8% in women) of patients who are hospitalized may present symptoms depressive. Nearly 20% of the patients who are treated in Spanish Primary Care have depressive disorders.

13. Improvement with antidepressants

According to research by Furukawa's group (2016), about 54% of adults with depression who are treated with antidepressant drugs notice an improvement of about 50% of their symptoms. Interestingly, between 30 and 40% of adults who are prescribed a placebo drug also saw their symptoms reduced by 50%.

• You may be interested in: "Types of antidepressants: characteristics and effects"

14. Improvement with psychotherapy

62% of adults show improvement after attending psychotherapy, being the percentage of 66% in those who have gone to a psychotherapist who has applied a cognitive-behavioral treatment, according to an investigation by Cuijpers et al (2014).

In the case of the child population, the improvement is 33%

15. relapses

Regarding the possibilities that a person who has suffered a depressive episode will manifest another one throughout life, the statistics vary remarkably.

In general terms, the appearance of a depressive episode has been related to a greater probability of a relapse occurring later, in the short or long term. Nearly 60% of patients who have suffered a depressive episode present at least one new one throughout their lives..

However, and according to research carried out by Monroe's group in 2012, close to 50% of the population that has experienced a depression will only experience that particular depression.

However, other research (Richards, 2011) shows the following data: between 25-40% of patients who recover after treatment they will have another depressive episode during the next 2 years, 60% of them after 5 years and 85% after 15 years

Bibliographic references:

• Fernández, Fernando & Martínez, África & Martín, Ana & Pérez-Fuentes, María & Molero Jurado, María Del Mar & Gázquez Linares, José. (2015). Prevalence of depression in Spain: Analysis of the last 15 years. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education. 5. 10.1989/ejihpe.v5i2.118.
• Cuijpers, P., Stringaris, A. and Wolpert, M. (2020). Treatment outcomes for depression: challenges and opportunities. The Lancet, 1-2.
• Furukawa TA, Cipriani A, Atkinson LZ, et al. (2016) Placebo response rates in antidepressant trials: a systematic review of published and unpublished double-blind randomized controlled studies. Lancet Psychiatry; 3: 1059–66.
• Cuijpers P, Karyotaki E, Weitz E, Andersson G, Hollon SD, van Straten A. (2014) The effects of psychotherapies for major depression in adults on remission, recovery and improvement: a meta-analysis. J Affect Disorder; 159: 118–26.
• Bear HA, Edbrooke-Childs J, Norton S, Krause KR, Wolpert M. (2019) Systematic review and meta-analysis: outcomes of routine specialist mental health care for young people with depression and/or anxiety. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2019; published online Dec 24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac..12.002.
• Monroe SM, Harkness KL. (2012) Is depression a chronic mental illness? Psycho Med; 42: 899–902.
• World Health Organization. (January 30, 2020). Depression. Recovered from: https://www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression