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America's 'Alarming' Depression Problem
Newsweek ^ | 9/16/25 | Jasmine Laws

Posted on 09/18/2025 3:58:56 PM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal

Depression remains an ongoing problem in the U.S. as historically high rates persist, polling company Gallup reveals.

The reported percentage of U.S. adults suffering or receiving treatment for depression has been higher than 18 percent for the past two years. A decade ago, in 2015, the number was just over 10 percent.

"The increase is alarming, and it is important that we keep an open mind and explore all possible causes for the rapid, and apparently sustained, rise in depression rates over the past decade," Dr. Gerard Sanacora, a professor of psychiatry, director of Yale Depression Research Program and co-director of Yale New Haven Hospital Interventional Psychiatry Service at Yale University, told Newsweek.

Why It Matters

Depression is a common mental health condition that can affect how a person thinks, sleeps, eats and acts, and often causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in previously enjoyed things, but is different to sadness or grief.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: depression; intercession; malaise; misery; suicide; wrongpriorities
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This is a real problem and I've seen it personally grip friends and family with its grip.

I wish people would reach for Jesus.


1 posted on 09/18/2025 3:58:56 PM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

It is a real thing, and it can be crippling.

That said, government and the medical community have been, for decades, pushing at all levels for people to see mental health professionals and take medication.

That is crazy, what it has done to people.

Now, I hear someone is developing a smart phone app for kids down to the grade school level to use who are feeling anxious or depressed, and can interact anonymously with an AI driven “therapy agent”.

That distresses and alarms me in so many ways I cannot even describe it adequately. They can open accounts, and won’t have to tell their parents.

What could go wrong with THAT?

And the people writing it are all smiles and enthusiasm, and obviously have “the best intentions”.

Crazy.


2 posted on 09/18/2025 4:05:00 PM PDT by rlmorel (Factio Communistica Sinensis Delenda Est.)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal
"The increasingly polarized political environment in the U.S. has also contributed to insecurity, interpersonal conflict, and family instability among other things,"

A 10 year 24/7/365 drumbeat that half the country are nazis have any role.

Stop shooting people.

3 posted on 09/18/2025 4:08:39 PM PDT by Kudsman (Emulate Charlie, not the left.)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

The numbers don’t lie. The great majority of the increase in depression and anxiety is among self-described liberal females. Close to 50% of them at last survey.


4 posted on 09/18/2025 4:10:17 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: hinckley buzzard

Empty wombs, empty lives.


5 posted on 09/18/2025 4:15:49 PM PDT by Sirius Lee ("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

Al Franken in Stuart Saves Hi Family movie: “A lot of people like me lived through the depression. My mother’s.”


6 posted on 09/18/2025 4:16:57 PM PDT by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

I agree. Knowing Christ as your Savior gives you hope and peace of mind.

I also think medicating depression is an option of last resort. Therapy and activity I think are much better options. Get involved with a worthy cause or endeavor. Better to be too busy than not busy enough.

We also live in a culture where gratification is instantaneous. Where we might have a sense of accomplishment and elation over completing a DIY project, we just go to Amazon or someplace and have it made to order. There is no sense of accomplishment or pride in doing something if you just buy it.

Or even at leisure: you have to work to win at an outdoor game. You strive against competition to win and you at least get some exercise and (it is hoped) improved your skill in a loss. Or learning a musical instrument, playing in a band, before an audience. So you’re not AC/DC. You still held an audience!

There’s no time to be down when you’re busy!


7 posted on 09/18/2025 4:18:43 PM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

I don’t suffer from depression. I’m a carrier.


8 posted on 09/18/2025 4:36:47 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

I’m a pharmacy technician, and I can’t tell you how many psych meds we dispense every day. My high school boyfriend had severe bipolar disorder, and he’s still having a hard time adhering to his meds, plus an even harder time staying sober from alcohol.

It’s really very alarming. Most of those receiving antidepressants at our pharmacies are female, and literally every, “trans” takes copious amounts of psych meds. (I’m in Chicagoland, so they’re still doing that out here)


9 posted on 09/18/2025 4:42:31 PM PDT by Tacrolimus1mg (Do no harm, but take no sh!t.)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

Jasmine. Another My Little Pony teenybopper trying to impress the grownups and to fool them into thinking she’s grown up also.


10 posted on 09/18/2025 4:43:51 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (God Bless Charlie Kirk.)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

Not all depression is the same. The causes are not all the same. The manifestations are not all the same. Maybe they could be placed into several separate categories.


11 posted on 09/18/2025 5:02:31 PM PDT by spintreebob
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

It started with the internet. People became lazy, became dependent on the internet to live their lives. They had to have a Facebook account, then belong to social media sites because apparently they had nothing else in their lives to interact with. They’ve become reliant on their electronic devices. Their communications are impersonal. Some people even feel the necessity to chat with a non-entity in a chat box. When I go to doctor appointments, I look around the waiting room to see how many people have their phones out while they’re waiting to be seen. It’s pathetic. I grew up in the 50’s. We didn’t have a car. We had a black and white TV with whatever channels we could get with an antenna, and we had the local movie theater on the weekend. We had no video games. We had board games, books and whatever else our imagination could come up with. We actually had to use our brains, and it didn’t hurt us one bit. I’ll never be sorry I was born when I was. It forced me to be self-reliant and not depend on anyone or anything.


12 posted on 09/18/2025 5:18:52 PM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: mass55th
We had a black and white TV with whatever channels we could get with an antenna

While we'll get the news from Walter Cronkite.

13 posted on 09/18/2025 5:21:10 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

Country needs Jesus. Depressing to be with so many behaving without Him.


14 posted on 09/18/2025 5:43:06 PM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: Tacrolimus1mg
"I’m a pharmacy technician, and I can’t tell you how many psych meds we dispense every day."

I can believe it. I went to work as a correctional officer for NY State in the fall of 1980. Even back then, there were a multitude of inmates in Auburn prison that were being given such drugs as Elavil, Haldol, Lorazepam, Clozapine, Stelazine, Thorazine, etc. Multiple that by 55 prisons across the State.

Back then, the officers handed those drugs out to the inmates via eye droppers. The drugs were in liquid form, and many came in large bottles. Each bottle was for a different inmate on the gallery with the number of drops to be dispensed to that inmate. The inmates would have a cup of water, and we'd dispense the number of drops prescribed into the cup. This process was done every night around 8 p.m. or so. Some officers had so many drugs to hand out they needed carts to wheel the stuff down the gallery. We'd dispense the drugs on the way down the gallery, then count the inmates on the way back for the 9 p.m. head count.

I was at Auburn until December 1983 when I transferred to a facility closer to home. Sometime during the time I was at Auburn, our Union successfully challenged the State about our handing out these medications. Of course the argument was that we weren't medical staff, and shouldn't have that responsibility. After that, inmates were put on medical callouts for their meds. They now got their controlled substances in the facility infirmary, handed out by nurses.

When Mario Cuomo was Governor, he closed many psych centers around the State, and dumped the residents on the street. The idea was that those residents could get better treatment in the community. It of course was a lie. It was all about saving money to spend on other crap. Those psych patients ended up in the prison system not long after, which caused the prison population to skyrocket. What did Cuomo do? He renovated many of the psych centers he had closed and filled it with criminals and crazy criminals. And then his son Andrew, and his successor Kathy Hochul have closed dozens of prisons in the State, citing the obvious lie that crime is down. A true vicious cycle if there ever was one.

15 posted on 09/18/2025 5:50:27 PM PDT by mass55th (“Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.” ― John Wayne)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

Exercise.

Get a hobby.


16 posted on 09/18/2025 5:51:10 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Right_In_Virginia’s 84% Plausibly Anti-Semitic posts put him at #1! Any challengers?)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal
Part of the big problem with depression is that they are calling lots of things depression that aren't.

Take being uninterested being labeled “depression”. Kid in my class, her mom was sure she was depressed because she did not like playing softball any more. I asked her why and she said she liked lacrosse better.

Not depression, just dropping one hobby to pick up another. Seen it happen several times.

They are also labeling sadness as depression. You are sad because of something major that happened to you for more then two weeks? You are depressed. No, you are grieving. And that is normal.

You hear, you shouldn't be sad over that. Why not? Yeah, it should not cripple you but you are allowed to be sad because your pet died or your last kid moved out or a friendship ended.

17 posted on 09/18/2025 6:09:43 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (It's like somebody just put the Constitution up on a wall …. and shot the First Amendment -Mike Rowe)
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

Since my wife passed away 20 months ago, I am avoiding depression with DAILY mild aerobic exercise for 25+ minutes. The exercise gives me a boost of energy, keeps me healthy, and feeling physically fit is a good way to avoid getting depressed at age 85.


18 posted on 09/18/2025 6:11:29 PM PDT by Bobbyvotes (Work is worship! .... Bhagavad Geeta. )
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To: Sirius Lee

This.


19 posted on 09/18/2025 6:26:11 PM PDT by ripnbang ("An armed man is a citizen, an unarmed man, a subject.")
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To: Roman_War_Criminal

What does the Bible say about depression?
https://www.gotquestions.org/depression-Christian.html

Is it wrong for a Christian to be depressed?
https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-depressed.html

Why does Proverbs 12:25 say that anxiety causes depression?
https://www.gotquestions.org/anxiety-and-depression.html


20 posted on 09/18/2025 6:26:38 PM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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