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Age Wise
Why Depression So Often Goes Untreated
More than a quarter of America suffers, but millions don’t (or can’t) get help
This is the last in a four-part series on preventing depression, a serious and growing mental disorder that can strike at any age and, if untreated, persist and worsen.
Mental health stigmas, antiquated beliefs that psychotherapies are hokum, and social and financial barriers to treatment combine to keep millions of Americans young and old from getting much-needed help with depression, a common and increasingly pervasive mental health disorder that can affect anyone at any age.
“Only about half of all people who need treatment actually get it,” says Tracy Gladstone, PhD, a senior research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women.
The pool of need is growing. Teen depression has been rising since at least 2005, and the pandemic has added to adolescent burden. Among American adults, more than a quarter now report symptoms of moderate to severe depression. The statistics presage a potentially dire trajectory. Depression that starts in childhood often persists into adulthood. And even mild depression that first strikes in adulthood can, if untreated, deepen and turn chronic.
