Every 10th man in Israel is depressed
Israel marks National Depression Day
Every 10th man and 4th woman in Israel is medically depressed; most of them will recover, but some might attempt to take their own lives. Tuesday is Israel’s National Depression Day.
TEL AVIV - Every 10th man and 4th woman in the country will be depressed in his or her life -medically depressed, that is. These figures will be the centerpiece of a convention held for National Depression Day in Israel on Tuesday.
This is the 4th time National Depression Day is marked in Israel and other countries to increase worldwide awareness of the disease. The day’s main events will be held in a community center in the Tel Aviv area, where movies about depression and its remedies will be shown.
‘Israelis are in a good place in the middle’
Health ministry statistics show that in the past year alone more than 139-thousand Israelis complained about depression when they called mental-health hotlines; 61% of callers were women, 60% were between 25-50 years old, 46% were unemployed, and 44% had jobs.
Thirty-five hundred mentioned suicidal thoughts and 11 hundred actually threatened to end their own lives.
“Depression is a modern world disease, and it grabs us more and more,” said David Koren, CEO of the mental health emergency organization, ERAN.
“However,” he adds, “despite the difficult economic and security situations, Israelis are not more depressed or less depressed than other Western nations. We are in a good place in the middle.”
What’s depression?
Not every bad mood is depression.
“As opposed to the ups and downs in our moods, depression is a long, lasting thing,” Koren explains. “In the past, people were afraid to talk about depression because it was perceived as a mental disease, but today we talk about it openly and treat it.”
Recent data shows that about 80% of depressed patients are cured with proper treatment, usually medication. Koren says that the sooner medication is given, the better the patient’s odds are to be cured.
A mental health care professional said that depression’s symptoms are usually “loss of pleasure from formerly pleasurable experiences, sleep disorders, drastic weight loss, feelings of guilt, low self-esteem, general fatigue or lack of energy, indecision and inability to focus.”
