Part 3 : Depression and suicide in America

5) Most depressed people aren't suicidal

Suicidal tendencies and depression tend to get conflated in public discussion, but it's worth remembering that the majority of depressed people do not attempt or even consider attempting suicide.

A 2008 survey found that 3.7 percent of adults 18 or older had thought about suicide, 1 percent had made plans to commit suicide, and 0.5 percent had attempted suicide. Those figures are far, far too high, but they suggest that most people suffering from depressive disorders are not suicidal:

(NIMH)

Also worth noting is the fact that even most suicidal people do not end up committing suicide. There are 25 suicide attempts each year for each suicide,  and 90 percent of people who attempt suicide and survive die from a cause other than suicide.

6) But most suicides are connected to depression

According to the American Academy of Suicidology, about two thirds of people who commit suicide are depressed at the time of their death, and the risk of suicide is about 20 times greater among people with major depression; it's also significantly higheramong people with bipolar. About 7 percent of men and 1 percent of women who have ever been diagnosed with depression die by suicide.

However, the Association notes that while the lifetime risk of suicide for patients whose depression goes untreated is nearly 20 percent, the risk for treated patients is a mere 0.141 percent. Some of that is likely due to selection bias; less suicidal people might be more willing to seek out treatment. But some of it could be due to the effectiveness of treatment.

Social factors can also influence suicide rates. One influential recent study found that a ten percent increase in unemployment (say, from 6 percent to 6.6 percent) increases the rates of suicides for adult men by 1.47 percent. Divorced and separated men are about 2.4 times more likely to commit suicide than married men; no similar increase was found for divorced and separated women.

7) Suicide is most common between age 45 and 64

People aged 24 or younger are actually the least likely age group to commit suicide. While historically, people over 85 have had the highest suicide rate, the rate among people aged 45 to 64 has overtaken it in recent years, as this chart from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention shows:

(American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)