This episode is brought to you by Raylar cariprazine. So let's talk about something important for a second. Did you know that a large study showed that 50% of adults with depression still had unresolved depressive symptoms with their first antidepressant? If you're taking an antidepressant and still have unresolved depressive symptoms, ask your healthcare provider of an add-on treatment like Raylar could help give your antidepressant a lift. Raylar is a prescription medication approved for use with antidepressant medicines to treat major depressive disorder, MDD in adults. Adding Raylar to an antidepressant is clinically proven to help relieve overall depression symptoms better than an antidepressant alone. The results may vary. Raylar is a once-daily pill taken with or without food. Raylar is not approved in elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis or for people under 18. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke, report unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults, report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion as these may be life-threatening or uncontrolled muscle movements which may be permanent. High blood sugar which can lead to coma or death, weight gain and high cholesterol may occur. Difficulty moving, tremors, slow or uncontrolled body movements, restlessness, feeling like you need to move around, nausea, constipation, insomnia, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are common side effects. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. For a lift and relief, ask about adding Raylar. V-R-A-Y-L-A-R. Visit raylar.com or call 1-877-6-raylar to learn more. Welcome to BrainStuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey BrainStuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. And just a heads up, our episode today deals with mental health and depression. So if you're not up for that right now, take care of yourself, okay? Okay. One of these symptoms of depression is feeling singularly lonely as though no one could understand how low you're feeling or that you're alone, even among friends or family. Well, and to be fair, everyone's experiences on this planet are singular and individual, but depression is really pretty common. But answering the question of how common is it is really complicated. First off, by depression, I mean feelings of sadness, emptiness, or irritability that affect one's capacity to function. On a global scale, it's estimated that somewhere between 3.8% and 4.4% of human beings experience depression, something like 300 million people give or take a few dozen million. And I know that is an infuriatingly imprecise statistic, but depression can be difficult to put a finger on. And nonetheless, it is a serious issue. The World Health Organization ranks it as the single largest contributor to disability on the planet. Of course, depressive conditions aren't evenly and randomly distributed throughout the world. A depression can affect anyone, regardless of who you are and where you are in life, but it is more common in certain populations. Globally, it's most common in older adults, ages 55 to 74-ish. Women are about 50% more likely than men to experience it. It's most prevalent in peoples with the lowest incomes, but those in zones of active conflict and those living with chronic physical illnesses, which really only makes sense. When you start getting a little more granular, the statistics start getting weirder. Rates of depressive disorders are higher in North America than anywhere else in the world because of Greenland, which is the most depressed country, or territory, technically. There's more depression in high-income countries than in middle-income countries. In different cultures, factors like never having been married or having a low level of education might make you more likely to have depression or way less. All of this speaks to how complex depression is. Science still doesn't know exactly how it works, though, as we have said on the show before, researchers think it's a combination of genetics, biochemistry, psychology, and environmental factors like stressors, which can vary from culture to culture. And part of the issue is how we trap depression. You can look at actual medical diagnoses, but that doesn't cover people who never see a doctor if a doctor is even available. Around the world, it's estimated that less than 25% of people with depression have access to proper care. You can look at surveys, but you have to take into consideration what questions we're being asked based on which diagnostic criteria. The science is updating its considerations about depression all the time. You also have to trust that the people who were surveyed were being honest. Researchers make best-guest estimates based on available data. But okay, what if we narrow our question of how common depression is down to the United States because that's where brain stuff is based? One great source of data here is the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which is a large annual survey of tens of thousands of Americans conducted by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. They then use that data to extrapolate out to the general American population. As of 2023, they found that 8.5% of adults, ages 18 and older, had experienced at least one episode of major depression in the past year. And okay, I wanna break that down by age group because it is dark. In people ages 15 and older, only 4.5% had had a major depressive episode. In ages 26 to 49 years, it was 10.2%. And in ages 18 to 25 years, it was 17.5%. And then they also surveyed adolescents. In adolescents ages 12 to 17 years, the rate was even higher. 18.1% had had at least one major depressive episode. That's a grand estimated total of 26.1 million people who experienced clinical depression in the US in 2023. But even this excellent survey may not be telling the full story because it excludes people who are a houseless, active duty military personnel and residents of institutions like jails and nursing homes. People for whom depression is probably even more common. Also, the survey is still relying on self-reported symptoms and humans are historically bad at self-reporting symptoms of depression because of the societal stigma against mental illnesses. For a quick example of how this can play out, let's go back to that statistic about the prevalence of depression in women versus men. So women are about twice as likely to experience depression. But we don't know why. Researchers are studying a myriad of possible links, including hormones, genetics, and other biological factors, but there are also psychosocial factors to consider. One theory is that men are less likely to be counted because they're less likely to seek help. While men tend to be willing to admit to fatigue, irritability, changes in sleep patterns and loss of interest in activities, they typically don't share about feelings of sadness or worthlessness. They're more likely than women to use alcohol or other drugs to mask their feelings. Women, on the other hand, are more likely to acknowledge feelings of sadness, guilt, and worthlessness. Stigma, that is prejudice against mental illness is real. It carries across cultures and has been going on for millennia. Despite the fact that we now know that factors like brain chemistry are at work in depression, there are still prejudices that paint depression as weakness or shameful and therefore paint depressive behaviors as lazy or some kind of moral failure. When people internalize this stigma, it can feed into those feelings of sadness, emptiness, and irritability that mark depression in the first place. This can make it even harder for people with depression to seek help and to follow through with treatment and mental health maintenance. And although depression is highly treatable, it's also not something that can be cured like a simple infection. About 50% of people who experience one episode of depression will experience a recurrence at some point in their lives. And the more often they relapse, the more likely they are to continue to do so. All of these statistics and the question marks around them sound a little depressing. They're a measure of how completely usual depression really is. If you're concerned about yourself or a loved one, the first step is always to talk to a healthcare professional, even a family doctor or online service, to rule out other physical issues and get started with a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Because symptoms and severity are singular and individual, that might involve medication, talk therapy, or a combination of both. With an eye on building a sort of toolkit of awareness and management and lifestyle strategies to carry with you into the future. No matter how complicated it seems. Today's episode was written by me with additional material from the article, How Depression Works on HowStuffWorks.com, written by Maria Trimaki. BrainStuff is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks.com and is produced by Tyler Klein. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This episode is brought to you by Raylar, Kariprazine. So, let's talk about something important for a second. Did you know that a large study showed that 50% of adults with depression still had unresolved depressive symptoms with their first antidepressant? If you're taking an antidepressant and still have unresolved depressive symptoms, ask your healthcare provider of an add-on treatment, like Raylar, could help give your antidepressant a lift. Raylar is a prescription medication approved for use with antidepressant medicines to treat major depressive disorder, MDD, and adults. Adding Raylar to an antidepressant is clinically proven to help relieve overall depression symptoms better than an antidepressant alone. Results may vary. Raylar is a once-daily pill, taken with or without food. Raylar is not approved in elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis or for people under 18. Elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. Report unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. Report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion as these may be life-threatening or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. High blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain, and high cholesterol may occur. Difficulty moving, tremors, slow or uncontrolled body movements, restlessness, feeling like you need to move around, nausea, constipation, insomnia, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are common side effects. Side effects may not appear for several weeks. For a lift and relief, ask about adding Raylar. V-R-A-Y-L-A-R. Visit Raylar.com or call 1-877-6-Raylar to learn more.
