It’s Time.

Last year we were hit hard with the deaths by suicide of Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell. More recently we have been knocked off of our feet by the deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. Depression, it seems does not discriminate. On the same days each of these celebrities died, the US would have suffered over 100 deaths by suicide. That equates to one death by suicide every 12 minutes in the US.

So, is depression on the rise? Or are we just more aware? It is more acceptable today than it was in the 80’s to see a therapist. People say it out loud more than before. Depression medication and side effects are better than they used to be. So, it seems, people just might be saying it out loud more than before. The actual fact here is that we don’t have the data to make that statement.

The statistics still suck though. Only half of all Americans experiencing an episode of major depression receive treatment. Depression affects 20–25% of Americans ages 18 and over. We know all of this and yet talking about depression still remains the elephant in the room. “I feel like people are tired of hearing about it so I’ve been keeping a lot of it to myself.” A friend said this today about her own depression. We still feel this need to not “bother” others with our depression.

Here’s a stunning fact. Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. We need to talk about it…