Facts and Figures
Special Populations
Depression
Bipolar Disorder
Schizophrenia
Creative Individuals
Depression and Suicide Prevention
An estimated 19 million Americans suffer from depression.
Clinical depression is not a temporary case of the "blues." People with depression may experience recurrent episodes of depression that can last anywhere from a few hours to a few months.
Depression is present if at least five or more of the following symptoms are present during a two-week period; at least one of the symptoms must be either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities.
- Depressed mood
- Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities
- Change in appetite or weight
- Change in sleeping patterns
- Speaking and/or moving with unusual speed or slowness
- Loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities
- Decrease in sexual drive
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Feelings of worthlessness, self-reproach or guilt
- Diminished ability to think or concentrate, slowed thinking or indecisiveness
- Thoughts of death, suicide, or wishes to be dead
Additional factors that point to an increased risk for suicide in depressed individuals are:
- Anxiety, agitation, or enraged behavior
- Isolation
- Drug and/or alcohol use or abuse
- History of physical or emotional illness
- Feelings of hopelessness or desperation
Facts About Depression
- Women suffer from depression twice as much as men. This two-to-one ratio exists regardless of racial and ethnic background or economic status.
- Depression in people 65 and older increases the risk of stroke and other medical complications.
- The economic cost of depressive illnesses is $30 million to $44 billion a year.
- More Americans (24 million) suffer from depression than coronary heart disease (17 million), cancer (12 million), and HIV/AIDS (1 million).
- Even though effective treatments are available, only one in three depressed people gets help.
Depression and Suicide
- Although most depressed people are not suicidal, two-thirds of those who die by suicide suffer from a depressive illness.
- About 15 percent of the population will suffer from depression at some time during their life. Thirty percent of all depressed inpatients attempt suicide.
Medical Illness and Depression
- Researchers believe that after an initial attack of severe depression 70 percent of people are vulnerable to another episode.
- The following illnesses are commonly associated with later-life depression: cancer, Parkinson's disease, heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer's disease.
- Research shows that depression and heart disease often accompany each other and that each can lead to the other. While roughly one in six people have an episode of major depression, the number goes to one in two for people with heart disease.
- About 25 percent of cancer patients suffer from clinical depression.
- Depression in people 65 and older increases the risk of stroke and other medical complications.
- Nearly eight out of ten patients with depressive illness will improve through treatment with medicine and psychotherapy.
Prevent suicide through early recognition and treatment of depression and other psychiatric illnesses.
Bipolar Disorder and Suicide Prevention
Almost 2 million Americans currently suffer from bipolar disorder. An estimated 3 percent to 20 percent of persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder die by suicide.
Approximately 20 percent of all patients with bipolar disorder have their first episode during adolescence but diagnosis is often delayed for years. Delayed recognition that low moods (depression) and highs (mania) are symptoms of a treatable mental disorder can foster related problems, such as substance abuse and suicidal behaviors.
Early recognition and treatment of bipolar disorder may prevent years of needless suffering and death by suicide. Eighty percent to 90 percent of people who have bipolar disorder can be treated effectively with medication and psychotherapy.
The mood stabilizers lithium carbonate, carbamazepine and valproate, are the most commonly prescribed medications to treat bipolar disorder. Lithium carbonate has shown more effectiveness in preventing suicidal behaviors associated with bipolar disorder.
- The death rate for untreated bipolar patients is higher than that of most types of heart disease and many types of cancer.
- Studies of bipolar patients indicate that 25 percent to 50 percent of persons with this illness make at least one suicide attempt.
- Studies indicate that most bipolar patients who die by suicide communicate their suicidal state to others, most often through direct and specific statements of suicidal intent.
- People suffering from bipolar disorder may die by suicide earlier in the course of this chronic illness than patients with other mental disorders. Recent hospital discharge is a very high-risk time.
- Hopelessness, a family history of suicide and previous attempts indicate bipolar patients at highest risk of suicide.
- Maintaining treatment for bipolar illness is critical. The suicide rate in the first year off lithium treatment is 20 times that during treatment.
- This site gives consumers and families information for locating mental health services anywhere in the country.
Early and accurate diagnosis of bipolar disorder and aggressive professional treatment are essential in preventing suicide.
Schizophrenia and Suicide Prevention
About 3 million people in this country suffer from schizophrenia, costing the nation an estimated $48 billion annually.
Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that makes it difficult for an individual to distinguish between the real and the unreal. Suffering a chemical imbalance in the brain, those with schizophrenia often have difficulty expressing their ideas coherently, or cannot engage with others at all.
- There is no known cure for schizophrenia, but it is highly treatable.
- Approximately 1 percent of the world population suffers from schizophrenia.
- Schizophrenia can affect anyone at any age, but most cases develop between adolescence and age 30.
- Depression is probably the most important risk factor for suicide in schizophrenia. Researchers have found that only four percent of those with schizophrenia who exhibit suicidal behavior do so in response to voices telling them to kill themselves.
- The risk for suicide is high among individuals with schizophrenia. It is estimated that twenty to forty percent make suicide attempts and over ten percent of individuals with schizophrenia eventually complete suicide.
- Suicide is the number one cause of death for young people with schizophrenia.
- Unlike other high-risk groups, the risk for suicidal behavior is high throughout the life span for individuals with schizophrenia, though the highest risk is earlier in the illness and within six months after acute exacerbations and hospitalization.
- While there is no cure for schizophrenia, it is a highly treatable disorder. In fact, the treatment success rate for schizophrenia is 60 percent, compared with 41 percent to 52 percent for heart patients.
- Clozapine has been shown to be effective in reducing suicide and attempted suicide in schizophrenic patients.
- Prevent suicide through early recognition and treatment of schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses.
Creativity, Depression and Suicide Prevention
For several centuries, stories of famous painters, writers and musicians who were depressed and took their lives made people wonder. Only in the last 25 years has scientific evidence demonstrated that creative people are more vulnerable to depression and suicide, regardless of whether or not they become famous. More research is needed to determine which:
- Patients suffering from depressive or manic depressive disorders are most vulnerable to suicide
- Treatments will control the disorder without interfering with the artists' ability to create.
Throughout history artists, writers and musicians have seemed to suffer disproportionately from mood disorders. Only recently has research concluded that a high percentage of artists -- both past and contemporary -- have, in fact, suffered from affective illness, particularly manic-depressive disorder.
Treatment of major depressive illness in artists has presented unique problems; partly because of a concern that creativity and the disorder are so intertwined that treatment might destroy the artists' unique talent.
By supporting studies of current approaches to treatment, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention hopes to encourage the development of new options for today's creators, options unfortunately unavailable for yesterday's greats.
Cases in Particular Arts
- The Literary Arts
Recent studies have shown that poets and writers are four times more likely than others to suffer from affective disorders, particularly manic depression. Dickinson, Eliot, and Poe are among the many poets who suffered from an affective illness. Writers such as Balzac, Conrad, Dickens, Emerson, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Ibsen, Melville and Tolstoy also suffered from the illness. In many cases, the writer's depression led to suicide: John Berryman, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Ernest Hemingway and Virginia Woolf. - The Visual Arts
Painters, sculptors, and other visual artists have also been afflicted by depressive disorders. Gaugin, Jackson Pollock, Michelangelo, and Georgia O'Keeffe suffered from depression. Van Gogh, Arshile Gorky and Mark Rothko died by suicide. Contemporary designers are plagued by alcohol and drug abuse, which are associated with depression. - The Musical Arts
The death of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain brought the issue of suicide into the spotlight. But the problem was not new to the music world. Classical composers such as Rachmaninoff, Schumann and Tchaikovsky suffered from affective disorders. Irving Berlin, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker and Cole Porter also suffered from depressive illnesses. - The Theatrical Arts
For many performing artists, the link between depression and suicide has been complicated by the effects of drug and alcohol abuse. For actresses like Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland, it remains unclear whether the cause of death was accidental overdose or suicide. Also, the tendency toward depression and suicide often shows up in the children of these performers, suggesting a familial link.
Prevent suicide through early recognition and treatment of depression and other psychiatric illnesses.
