Depression Rates in the States: Does it Matter Where You Live?

What do New Jersey and Hawaii have in common? These two states have the lowest incidence of depression in the past year in the United States. Results of a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Heath Administration (SAMHSA) that looked at episodes of major depression across the nation, recently released the research results. Overall, the rate of major depression in the United States is approximately 8 percent for adults across the country. Major Depression is a specific category of diagnosis defined in the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders used by mental health treatment professionals. The disorder is defined as a depression that last minimally two weeks and causes other life issues such as problems sleeping, eating, and concentrating as well as low energy level and poor self-image. While New Jersey and Hawaii had relatively low rates of major depression, with rates of 6.8 and 6.7, Utah and Rhode Island were at the other end of the spectrum. Rhode Island had a rate of 9.9 and Utah's rate was 10. Interesting to note that a report by the National Alliance of Mental Illness called "Grading the States", reported suicide rates were also among the lowest in New Jersey and Hawaii. New Jersey ranked 49 and Hawaii ranked 41 out of the 51 states. Wyoming had the highest suicide ranking in the NAMI study and a high rate of major depression, at 9.3 percent in the SAMHSA study.

Rhode Island had a low suicide rate despite the higher rate of depression. A Blue Ribbon panel convened by the Rhode Island Director of Health, identified suicide as one of the three injury prevention priorities for the state. It's possible that the strategies and attention paid to suicide prevention are paying off in this state.

The importance of treating depression becomes even more urgent when noting the relationship between depression and other life threatening illnesses. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, depression greatly increases the risk of developing heart disease. In fact, people with depression are four times more likely to have a heart attack than those with no history of depression. Treatment options for those with major depression have never been better. New drugs and therapies have had a very positive effect on treatment outcomes and quality of life. Public education aimed at getting people identified and treated can be very successful and was part of the recommendations in President Bush's 2002 New Freedom Commission on Mental Health Report.

While the SAMHSA report looked only at data and did not look for causation, individual's states can look at their individual rankings and recommendation completed in the NAMI report. For example, Wyoming was given the grade of "D" by NAMI and specific recommendations were made around the need to develop suicide prevention strategies. The recommendations for improving the mental health system across the country involve increased funding; a focus on research and evidence based treatment as well as assuring that insurers provide treatment parity for both mental health and physical health treatments. So, what do Hawaii and New Jersey have in common aside for lower rates of major depression and suicide? According to the NAMI, while both states only received a grade of "C", the key to mental health services in both states is funding and leadership.