America's Alarming Depression Problem

 Isn't it interesting that the wealthiest modern-day nation is filled to the brim with citizens suffering from depression and anxiety?

How can that be?  We have grocery stores filled to the brim.  We have homes with electricity, air conditioning and heat.  We don't have Muslims dragging us from our homes to torture and kill us.  We have Amazon dropping off a toothbrush in our driveways.  We have cars to drive us anywhere in the nation we want to go...and yet we are miserable.

Could it have everything to do with the fact that we have rejected God?  The very God who gives us our daily bread?

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.

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.

It affects millions of Americans, and recent data from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that as many as 1 billion people worldwide are living with mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.

There are many different types and severities of depression, and in severe cases, it can lead to self-harm or death by suicide. Tens of thousands of Americans take their own lives each year, highlighting the crucial importance of mental health treatment and support.

While depression can affect anyone, both children and adults, there are some known risk factors, Sanacora said. These include "genetics, age, gender, and decline in general health."

"It is possible that some change in general health, for example related to long COVID or increased levels of obesity and metabolic disorders could be contributing to the increase," he added, noting though that the impact of these risk factors "probably has not changed dramatically throughout the population in recent years."

Other major risk factors known to be associated with depression "are more related to stressful life events, substance use, and social isolation," he said.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The turning point of the recent increase in America's depression rates occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, according to Gallup's data.

In 2019, the percentage of U.S. adults that reported having depression in Gallup's survey, which is part of the ongoing Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index, was 12.5 percent.

The questions respondents were asked included: "Has a doctor or nurse ever told you that you have depression?" and if yes, "Do you currently have or are you currently being treated for depression?"

From 2019 onward, rates of depression soared, going from 13.8 percent in 2020 to 17.8 percent in 2023.

As depression rates continued to rise in the wake of the pandemic, it suggests that "the pandemic was more of a tipping point than a blip," Dr. David Mischoulon, director of the Depression Clinical and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, told Newsweek.

This is likely because the COVID-19 pandemic "led to major changes in the way our society functions, resulting in various forms of physiological and psychological stress as well as marked social isolation," Sanacora said.

Here;  America's 'Alarming' Depression Problem - Newsweek

Ancient Israel was certainly a model for us all to learn by.  When times were great for them and they had food a plenty and peace on all sides...who needs God?  And then they would get destroyed and after suffering for a while they would call out, "God!  Where are you??  We need you!!"  And then God would send them a judge and they would be delivered.  But after a few years of peace and prosperity...who needs God?  And the cycle went over and over again.

Here in America we have so much food that a large percentage of us have turned into obese gluttons.  We don't go outside, we don't know our neighbors, we don't have friends, we aren't involved in churches and millions would rather seek solace in drugs, alcohol and other self-medications.  What will it take for us all to turn back to God and say, "God we need you!?"