Depression
by Joan-Marie Moss If you're
not suffering from depression yourself, chances are that anywhere
from 15 to 50 of every hundred people you know are. It is an insidious
illness that sucks an individual further and further into a state
of "impotence" and at the same time impacts the well-being
of everyone who comes in contact with him/her. The numbers offered
here are somewhat ambiguous because depression is only recently
recognized as a real illness and not a figment of one's imagination.
Diane, who has been suffering from depression for more than eleven
years, is one of those who are willing to talk about her illness.
She says, "Most people are still very much surprised that
I admit and am willing to talk openly about my depression. There
is still a stigma associated with the disease. People still don't
understand." For this reason, we won't use real names in
this article although the people who shared their stories are
very real.
Incidences of this illness are staggering. An estimated 10-14
million Americans suffer from depression, according to a recent
article in the Alliance for the Mentally Ill publication. Other
estimates range as high as 35-40 million.
No one is immune from an attack of depression. Keep in mind that
everyone feels "down" or "blue" at times.
That's normal. But it's been estimated that 26 out of 100 women
and 12 out of every 100 men will have a major depressive episode
at least once in their lives. For creative individuals the estimate
increases to 38 out of 100.
Statistics can be deceiving and any attempt to quantify this
disease could be challenged. Particularly since, according to
the Alliance for Mentally Ill, we're talking about those who are
only now beginning to and seek help -- 80 % of those suffering
from depression never seek treatment and suffer needlessly.
DuPage County is not immune. In fact, Dr. Martin Russo, a physician
working with Central DuPage Hospital with offices in Bloomingdale,
reports that easily forty to fifty percent of his patients are
suffering from depression. Social workers and doctors throughout
the county report similar statistics.
For this article only the most conservative numbers will be used.
The indication, then, is that at least 150 out of every thousand
suffer from this debilitating disease. In DuPage County, Illinois
that translates to more than of 132,000 -- in Elmhurst, approximately
6,300 people -- live with some level of depression.
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