Recent reports show depression is one of the greatest mental health challenges facing Americans today. Here’s how it may affect you or someone you love.

很难错过，升起rates of suicideanddepression：美国心理健康似乎处于低迷状态。

时装设计师自杀后的日子Kate Spade那at 55, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 报道 that suicides are becoming more common in every age group, but especially in mid-life.

The biggest increase was among men ages 45 to 64, and suicide is rising among mid-life women, too.

Young people — from teens to college students — are another group that appears to be greatly affected by the mental health storm that’s growing in America.

In the last decade, Lisa Cohen, PhD, clinical professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York, has seen a bump in college students and young adults from stable families landing in the hospital at risk for suicide after a minor stress.

部分，这可能是因为他们已经过度保护了 - 但在成年早期的压力中的整体增速也比过去更陡峭。

“While earlier generations could rely on a steady supply of jobs in large, stable companies, this is no longer the case,” Cohen says. “Many young people expect to work in start-ups or to work freelance… [They] look ahead to an economic life of uncertainty, without a clear path to success or even self-sufficiency.”

与此同时,他们面临沉重的大学贷款d a technology-dominated social world that requires a thicker skin.

The less secure economy and less social contact may be at work in mid-life despair as well.

抑郁症的及时治疗对整体健康至关重要。未经治疗的抑郁症引发了风险 stroke 那heart attacks那 失智 那and帕金森的- 特别是在老年人身上。

一旦一个人生病，抑郁症就可以使恢复更加困难。

一些抑郁率的上升可能归因于更多人寻求护理，因为精神疾病变得不那么耻辱。然而，最近抑郁的人数的颠簸已经发生得太快，以完全适合这种解释。

For example, diagnoses of重度抑郁症rose by a third between 2013 and 2016, in areportanalyzing claims to Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

这种数据显示，男女的所有年龄组增加 - 但是青少年和年轻人在35岁之间的特殊尖峰。

In 研究 based on national surveys including the uninsured, more than 11 percent of teens, and 9.6 percent of Americans ages 18 to 25, had major depression in the most recent year.

Thoughts of suicidehave also been found to be common among teens, though much smaller numbers take action.

More than 22 percent of American high school girls think about attempting suicide, according to 2013 CDC data. Of that group, 3.6 percent took steps that resulted in an injury, poisoning, or overdose that required medical care.

The numbers were roughly half for boys: Nearly 12 percent considered suicide and less than 2 percent took actions that required medical care.

In surveys that ask teens and college students whether they engage in self-hurting behavior such as cutting or burning their skin, as many as 40 percent say yes, though it’s not clear whether those figures are rising.

Self-hurting behavior is a risk factor for suicide attempts.

“当我在20世纪80年代后期开始的领域时，年轻的患有严重的自杀意念或自我伤害行为的年轻患者，如切割，来自非常令人不安的背景，并且经常有相当的创伤的历史，”Cohen说。

Today, they may be from stable, supportive families.

为什么现在？一个巨大的明显变化是社交媒体和智能手机的兴起。

Based on two large U.S. surveys of 8th- through 12th-graders,研究ers争辩说screen timetracked closely with reported mental health issues.

对于个体孩子来说，这是真的 - 手机上的时间越多，他们就越有可能报告抑郁症的症状。作为整体的数字也是如此，领先作者，圣地亚哥州立大学心理学家让Jean Twenge，博士报道。

Kids began getting smartphones between 2010 and 2015. As the phones spread, overall depression symptoms increased, year by year, she said.

在同一时期，访问学院咨询中心跳了30％。

A social media habit has also been tied to depression in studies of 19- to 32-year-olds, though it may matter most how often they look 。

今天，对于20多岁及30多岁的人，技术占主导地位约会。

新的应用程序在他们的指尖下放置了前所未有的选择 - 但是，这也让许多人感到多毫无无望的是找到爱情，说Loren Soeiro那PhD, a clinical psychologist in New York.

“我和很多人谈论这些约会应用程序如何让他们感受到。他们觉得商品化并给予了很小的机会，“他说。

For those who are vulnerable to feeling left out, social media shows them acquaintances having more fun than they are. And for those who try to compete, the competition can be constant.

“没有隐私，”科恩指出，增加了留下持续的压力。“与社交媒体人们彼此依赖，持续营销自己，无法逃避侵入性的公众眼睛。”

Playing on smartphones can often cut into sleep as well. Some60 percentof teens spend the last hour of the day with their phone — and end up losing an hour of sleep compared to peers who do something else at bedtime.

一个青少年睡眠六个小时或更少的睡眠 triples their chance of becoming depressed.

其他研究found that loneliness is at “epidemic levels” in the United States.

In a May report from Cigna, only aroundhalf of Americanssaid they have daily meaningful in-person conversations with a friend or family member. Most Americans qualify as “lonely.”

For example, when asked how often they feel that no one knows them well, 54 percent said they feel that way always or sometimes.

Generation Z-adults between the ages of 18 and 22 — emerged as the loneliest, regardless of how much time they spent online or on their phones.

More adults —42 percent- 没有配偶或浪漫的合作伙伴生活，这是自2007年以来一直在65岁以下的一年以来一直种植的数字。

That number is even higher for those aged 18 to 35. About 61 percent live as singletons — up from 56 percent in 2007.

It’s not clear that married people are happier, healthier, or are less lonely — yet many unpartnered people assume they are and feel left out.

Itisclear that living single is tied to less financial security, a Pew Research Centerreportnotes.

没有工作的一半以上的工作年龄成年人于2017年生活单身，从十年早些时候开始大幅上升。当他们的收入下降时，他们无法获得配偶的健康保险或垫子。

几十年来，自杀率已经下降。但是，在 new CDC suicide data ，平均年增长率一倍于2006年开始，每年2％。

Most Americans who die of suicide are white, working-class, middle-aged men.

大约20名退伍军人每天也死于自杀，大多数人超过50岁。

Men are more likely to use guns than women and less likely to seek help. But with rates rising among women, the gap has narrowed.

Pooling together the sexes, the rate of suicide in the 45-to-64 age group rose 45 percent from 2000 to 2016.

在衰退期间，自杀趋势往往会增加，最近的一个“可能让中年人口尤其很难击中”suggestedAnne Schuchat, principal deputy director at the CDC.

没有大学学位的男人的工作前景已经减少了一段时间，而且他们现在更有可能是单身。

Beyond the suicide numbers, some take the “slow suicide” route and die of drug overdoses or alcohol liver disease.

Although depression can make it much harder,nowis the time to take good care of yourself.

如果您或您所知的人正在努力与抑郁症斗争，请持续到寻找正确的医疗保健 - 理想的是药物和咨询 - 并使用提升以关注跨越良好的健康习惯。

虽然研究，运动有助于帮助 suggests it won’t substitute for therapy. Mind your diet and sleep, as well as hygiene, and cultivate in-person social ties.

对于父母来说，倾向于担心最擅长的青少年。但是，根据一个 2014 study of more than 12,000 European teens, an “invisible risk group” of teens don’t exercise, skip sleep, and spend a lot of time online.

More than 13 percent were depressed and nearly 6 percent attempted suicide.

Parents can promote in-person social activities for children to help them fight the trend of spending hours alone in their room and limit screen time by barring phones and laptops from beds.

Loss of appetite emerged as a red flag for suicidal thinking in a study 在日本超过18,000个青少年。

What your child eats matters, too. Skipping vegetables and fruits and sticking to foods like meat and bread is depressing, according to 研究 超过7,000个青少年。

不要等一年多为有自杀思维的孩子获得帮助： Research suggests that treatment within the first 6 to 12 months after the suicidal thoughts begin is most effective.

Should your teen take an antidepressant? The usual recommendation is a combination of talk therapy and antidepressants, although a 2014 review 从著名的tha Cochrane综述得出结论t this approach remains unproven.

No teen should have access to guns, alcohol, painkillers, or sleeping pills at home. Don’t assume you’ll see the red flags in time to whisk the pills away.

Young people sometimes act on a suicidal impulse within minutes or a day.