Depression and Suicide Facts #8

-Myths-

As with everything, many myths have come up involving depression and suicide, I would like to address some of them

Depression:

1. It is an extreme form of sadness or greif
2. It only affects old people, losers, and women (check out yesterday's post to review the numbers)
3. All one needs is an antidepresent to get over it (remember the number of methods there are to treat)
4. AIDs, Cancer, and Diabetes occur more often (actually, all those combined do not add up to the total cases of depression)

Suicide:

1. Peaks during the holidays (they are actually lowest in December, and highest in the Spring)
2. Teens are at a greater risk (while this is a myth, this age does determine a lot of situations that may influence depression later)
3. Minorities are leaders in committing suicide (whites tend to have the lead here, except when compared to American Indians and Alaskan natives)

Both:

1. Creativity is not linked to either (actually, most of the world's most creative suffer from depression)
2. Depression is always the cause of suicide (not quite, and 1 of 3 are caused from alcoholism)
3. Poor countries have higher rates (Nope, richer countries have the higher rates)
4. "copy cat" events don't happen (If one is witness, friend of one who commits suicide, they may become at risk for depression and then possibly suicide

These are just a small view into the world of depression and suicide myths, there are more, but these are some of the most common.

No one is alone, be the light you want to see in the world