WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE DEPRESSION?

Depression is going up in the United States. Chances are if you don’t struggle with the condition, you almost certainly know someone who does.

Nearly 18% of US adults —more than 1 in 6— said they are currently depressed or getting treatment for depression, according to a 2023 Gallup Poll. In 2015, the number was under 11%.

Gallup’s data shows that clinical depression was slowly rising in the country before the pandemic, but it grew faster in its aftermath, with social isolation, loneliness, fear of infection, psychological exhaustion, substance abuse and disruption in mental health care all taking a toll. Rates among women, young adults, and Black and Hispanic adults are rising the fastest.

Psychiatrist Charles Raison, a professor of human ecology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he has struggled with depression himself. Raison described the state of mental health in the Unites States in one word: “bad.”

“The rise is not equal amongst all age groups,” Raison said. “The people that are really suffering are young people. So, people between the ages of like 15 and 35, that’s where you see this really, really disturbing increase.”

THINGS TO DO WHEN YOU’RE DEPRESSED

Commit to getting help: Make an appointment with a mental health professional.“If you’re feeling unremittingly down, if you’ve lost interest in life, if your sleep and your appetite are altered, if you feel hopeless, if you are having thoughts of hurting yourself, these sorts of things — that’s what depression is,” Raison said.

Be around people: Try to maintain close relationships. “It is sometimes very hard when you’re depressed. … But it is probably the single most important thing, which is trying to maximize our interpersonal connections with other people” .

Embrace appreciation: Generate a state of thankfulness. “Work on developing an attitude of gratitude”.   Raison admits doing so is not always easy when you’re depressed. “If you can make it a habit, it can be very powerful both to prevent depression, but also to feel better if you are depressed,” he said.

CNN // Andrea Kane