If your teenager drags themselves out of bed, barely making it through school, or you find yourself smiling all times, but inside, everything feels heavy, these are signs of mental struggles that are more common today. The new numbers show just how much depression is affecting people of all ages.
Depression is a mental health condition that can affect how you think, feel, and handle daily life. It often feels like a heavy weight you can’t shrug off, even when everything around you seems fine. Some common symptoms of depression include constant sadness, losing interest in things you once enjoyed, feeling tired all the time, trouble sleeping (or even sleeping too much), changes in appetite, feeling hopeless or worthless, and having thoughts about death or hurting yourself.
Everyone’s experience with depression can look a little different, but if these feelings stick around for more than a couple of weeks, it’s important to reach out for help. According to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), around 13.1 percent of Americans aged 12 and above had symptoms of depression during any given two-week period between August 2021 and August 2023. That’s about 1 in 8 people, and the numbers are higher in some groups than others.
Also read | Depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder: Decoding myths and facts around mental health
Here are 6 things you need to know about the latest report on depression:
- It’s hitting teens the hardest: Young people aged 12 to 19 had the highest rates of depression at 19.2 percent, with symptoms showing up more than twice as often in teenage girls than boys. Older adults had the lowest rates at just 8.7 percent.
- Women are more affected than men: Across almost every age group, more women reported feeling depressed than men. Among teen girls, over 1 in 4 showed signs of depression.
- Money makes a difference: People from lower-income families were about three times more likely to report depression than those from higher-income households. Stress from financial hardship plays a big role here.
- Rising rates: Over the last decade, depression rates have gone up: from 8.2 percent in 2013–14 to 13.1 percent in 2021–23. That’s a big jump, and it's happening in both men and women.
- Depression isn’t just a mood, it's life-altering: Almost 9 in 10 people with depression said it made everyday things, like work, chores, or socialising, much harder. For many, these struggles were serious.
- Need help: Only about 4 in 10 people with depression had received therapy in the last year. Women were more likely to seek help than men, but most still went without support.
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