I Found this information on the internet and thought it was very interesting in light of the the VT Shooting. Maybe we should re-evaluate and deal with what the REAL problem is!!!
Depression Statistics
* Depressive disorders affect approximately 18.8 million American adults or about 9.5% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. This includes major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and bipolar disorder.
* Everyone, will at some time in their life be affected by depression -- their own or someone else's, according to Australian Government statistics. (Depression statistics in Australia are comparable to those of the US and UK.)
* Pre-schoolers are the fastest-growing market for antidepressants. At least four percent of preschoolers -- over a million -- are clinically depressed.
* The rate of increase of depression among children is an astounding 23% p.a.
* 15% of the population of most developed countries suffers severe depression.
* 30% of women are depressed. Men's figures were previously thought to be half that of women, but new estimates are higher.
* 54% of people believe depression is a personal weakness.
* 41% of depressed women are too embarrassed to seek help.
* 80% of depressed people are not currently having any treatment.
* 92% of depressed African-American males do not seek treatment.
* 15% of depressed people will commit suicide.
* Depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020 -- and studies show depression is a contributory factor to fatal coronary disease.
* Suicide was the eighth leading cause of death for males and the sixteenth leading cause of death for females in 2004.
* Almost four times as many males as females die by suicide.
* Firearms, suffocation, and poison are by far the most common methods of suicide, overall. However, men and women differ in the method used, as shown below.
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Suicide by: Males (%) Females (%)
Firearms 57 32
Suffocation 23 20
Poisoning 13 38
Is suicide common among children and young people?
In 2004, suicide was the third leading cause of death in each of the following age groups. Of every 100,000 young people in each age group, the following number died by suicide:
* Children ages 10 to 14 — 1.3 per 100,000
* Adolescents ages 15 to 19 — 8.2 per 100,000
* Young adults ages 20 to 24 — 12.5 per 100,000
As in the general population, young people were much more likely to use firearms, suffocation, and poisoning than other methods of suicide, overall. However, while adolescents and young adults were more likely to use firearms than suffocation, children were dramatically more likely to use suffocation.
There were also gender differences in suicide among young people, as follows:
* Almost four times as many males as females ages 15 to 19 died by suicide,
* More than six times as many males as females ages 20 to 24 died by suicide.
