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Shocking depression statistics

Hi everyone, I'm currently completing a Future Learn (online course) about depression, anxiety and CBT. I recently completed a quiz about depression and the statistics showed that depression is a lot more prevalent that I thought it was. I would like to apologise for the large writing as I copied and pasted some it.


5.8% of men and 9.5% of women will experience a depressive episode in a 12 month period, this is about 121 million people. In the UK, between 8-12% of the population experience depression in any year.

56 million working days are lost each year in the UK due to stress, anxiety and depression, this accounts up to a third of the 168 million working days lost in the UK due to health and related reasons in 2004, the cost of this sickness absence was 4.1 billion

Depression affects 27% of people with diabetes, 29% of people with hypertension, 31% of people who have a stroke, 33% of cancer patients and 44% of people with HIV/AIDS

World Mental Health Survey found that the risk of depression was seven times more common with two or more chronic physical health problems.
1 in 4 women will require treatment for depression at some time, compared with 1 in 10 men. The reasons for this are unclear, but are thought to be due to both social and biological factors. Doctors are also more likely to treat depression in women than in men, even when they present with identical symptoms

Common mental health problems such as depression and anxiety are distributed according to a gradient of economic disadvantage across society, with the poorer and more disadvantaged suffering disproportionately from common mental health problems and their adverse consequences.

This statement if false. The Royal College of Psychiatrists found that the number of older people affected by depression is much higher than this. This figure is estimated to be 1 in 5 older people (rates are thought to be double this in older people living in care homes).

This figure is estimated to be 1 in 5 older people (rates are thought to be double this in older people living in care homes). (How many older people have depression)

This statement if false. This figure is estimated to be much higher, at 85% of older people with depression receive no help from the NHS

Depression tends to recur in most people. More than half of people who have one episode of depression will have another, while those who have a second episode have a further relapse risk of 70%.

Children with at least one depressed parent have a 50% chance of developing depression themselves.

The World Health Organisation forecasts that by 2020 depression will be the second leading contributor to the global burden of disease.

What are your opinions on this?What did you expect?

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