HHS HealthBeat (November 16, 2010)

It’s not the blues

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Everybody feels blue sometimes. But depression is different and more severe. And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found about 1 in 10 Americans has symptoms of depression.

CDC researcher Lela McKnight-Eily says those symptoms include weeks of feeling sad or irritable, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, even recurring thoughts of death or suicide.

 She also says:

``Depression occurs more frequently in women. We also found that older adults were less likely to report symptoms of current depression, although it is probably under-recognized and under-reported by this group.’’  (12 seconds)

The study is in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011