from Hacker News

Depression Rates by Country 2024

by panqueca on 4/20/24, 11:46 PM with 39 comments

  • by suriya-ganesh on 4/21/24, 1:13 AM

    > "While the numbers listed above (and below) are valuable and vital, it is important to keep in mind that the true rates are likely much higher, especially in less developed countries. Depression is much more likely to be diagnosed in highly developed countries, whose more robust health care infrastructures are far better equipped to identify and treat mental illnesses."

    This is an important quote from the article, before naively interpreting the results.

  • by crtified on 4/21/24, 12:33 AM

    What is the original source, and more importantly, methodology, of the data?

    It appears to reference [0], a 2017 publication, which itself references [1] a 2015 publication, which is a bit of a dead end from a layperson perspective.

    [0] https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/depression-global-he... [1] https://ghdx.healthdata.org/record/ihme-data/gbd-2015-life-e...

  • by ChumpGPT on 4/21/24, 1:43 AM

    Man I feel for Ukraine, our problems are trivial in comparison. They are fighting for their existence. Hard to imagine the amount of trauma the population and military are suffering from on top of just the normal bullshit that gets to us all.

  • by zer00eyz on 4/21/24, 1:24 AM

    https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db377.htm

    Are we under diagnosing Depression or Over prescribing SSRI's? The numbers dont add up AT ALL. Not even close. Not in the same league.

    There are mental health problems. We need therapists.

    We also need there to be good diagnostic criteria (you cant see someone for an hour and hand them a psycho active drug cause your good at diagnostic). We need better science (remember folks this is the field that is the wellspring of the reproducibility crisis we're having in science).

  • by panqueca on 4/21/24, 12:11 AM

  • by mlinhares on 4/21/24, 12:14 AM

    One surprise in these numbers is that Africa seems to be doing better than Latin America when I would have expected them to be close to each other given the economic difficulties, violence and lack of perspective for large swaths of the population.

  • by matrix87 on 4/21/24, 3:59 AM

    the way it's defined is incredibly broad. it includes people who are so deep in the hole that they can't take care of themselves. but it also includes people who are just cynical and pessimistic

    it all sounds too convenient. If we're chucking SSRIs at depressed people, all of these different cases should have the same cause that's addressed by them, right? But how do we know that?

    the way it's treated sounds incredibly primitive, just throwing different pills at people and hoping for the best. Doesn't inspire a lot of faith in our current understanding of depression or the mind more generally

  • by ghusto on 4/21/24, 6:06 AM

    > The symptoms of depression can range from mild to severe and include the following:

    > - A persistent feeling of sadness

    > - Loss of interest in activities once enjoyed

    > - Changes in appetite – weight loss or gain

    > - Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much

    > - Loss of energy or increased fatigue

    > - Increase in purposeless tasks or physical activities such as pacing

    > - Slowed movements and speech

    > - Feeling guilty or worthless

    > - Difficulty thinking or concentrating

    > - Decreased confidence and self-esteem

    > - Negative, bleak, or pessimistic attitude

    > - Self-harmful or suicidal thoughts or actions

    Ha, 8/12 of those are also the symptoms of ageing.

  • by jhawleypeters on 4/21/24, 12:29 AM

    The map may be mislabelled, it appears to indicate countries where people aren't dancing enough

  • by throwaway22032 on 4/21/24, 1:30 AM

    In my experience depression is in most cases basically a variant of burnout.

    When people get stuck in a routine (job, city, hobby, political view, whatever) where they're focused mainly on the outcome rather than the process. Extreme long term thinking.

    Alienation, that sort of thing.

    It's common to say it's "under diagnosed" in places where people live more natural lives but I think this is correlation rather than causation.