Depression by state

[Beet]

I thought this was interesting



Least depressed

1. South Dakota
2. Hawaii
3. New Jersey
4. Iowa
5. Maryland
6. Minnesota
7. Louisiana
8. Illinois
9. North Dakota
10. Texas
11. Georgia
12. Vermont
13. Nebraska
14. Florida
15. California
16. Massachusetts
17. Pennsylvania
18. Virginia
19. New York
20. New Hampshire
21. Alaska
22. Michigan
23. D.C.
24. Delaware
25. Arizona
26. Alabama
27. North Carolina
28. South Carolina
29. Kansas
30. Wisconsin
31. Tennessee
32. Montana
33. Mississippi
34. Colorado
35. Washington
36. New Mexico
37. Oregon
38. Connecticut
39. Indiana
40. Arkansas
41. Maine
42. Wyoming
43. Ohio
44. Missouri
45. Idaho
46. Oklahoma
47. Nevada
48. Rhode Island
49. Kentucky
50. West Virginia
51. Utah

Most depressed

http://www.nmha.org/go/state-ranking

[Tender Branson]

Interesting.  But it does not seem to have any political correlations.

The Mormon triangle being depressed is a bit surprising.  Latter Day Saints seem so contented.

Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky are not surprising.  Depression tends to breed populism, and populism depression - a cycle that can only be broken by the free market.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Interesting.  But it does not seem to have any political correlations.

The Mormon triangle being depressed is a bit surprising.  Latter Day Saints seem so contented.

Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky are not surprising.  Depression tends to breed populism, and populism depression - a cycle that can only be broken by the free market.

Clearly Hawaii is hardcore free market.  BTW, they're the wrong color.

[Tender Branson]

Interesting.  But it does not seem to have any political correlations.

The Mormon triangle being depressed is a bit surprising.  Latter Day Saints seem so contented.

Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky are not surprising.  Depression tends to breed populism, and populism depression - a cycle that can only be broken by the free market.

Clearly Hawaii is hardcore free market.  BTW, they're the wrong color.

OK, the free market or an island paradise.

[Beet]

Interesting.  But it does not seem to have any political correlations.

The Mormon triangle being depressed is a bit surprising.  Latter Day Saints seem so contented.

Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky are not surprising.  Depression tends to breed populism, and populism depression - a cycle that can only be broken by the free market.

Clearly Hawaii is hardcore free market.  BTW, they're the wrong color.

OK, the free market or an island paradise.

According to their analysis

While many factors likely contribute to these differences which are not represented in the state summary data employed in these analyses, a clear and compelling theme emerges from the data included. The availability of and access to mental health services improves mental health outcomes. This is particularly true for suicide, where less difficulty in obtaining needed care, actual utilization of services, and the availability of a professional workforce are all related to decreased rates of death. Similarly, access to health insurance – a key variable in obtaining care – is also related to decreased rates of suicide.
As would be expected, states with greater rates of depression also had greater utilization of mental health treatment and pharmacy services. Where individuals reported fewer barriers to accessing care and lower levels of unmet needs, the rates of depression were lower than in states where individuals reported more difficulty receiving care.

http://www.nmha.org/files/Ranking_Americas_Mental_Health.pdf

[Verily]

Yeah, that is very interesting.  If I had to guess I would have said the mountain states and California would be least depressed while the Northeast would be most depressed.  Wrong.

I expected the map, sort of. The most remote areas tend to demonstrate the highest rates of depression because of a lack of human interaction, or of interaction with different humans. For that reason, only Ohio, Missouri and Utah of the most depressed surprise me (for different reasons; Ohio because it has fairly large cities, Missouri because there's nowhere particularly remote, and Utah because my impression of Mormons has always been as a fairly communal group). Rhode Island is less surprising because it consists primarily of a poor city (relative to its surroundings), but it doesn't follow that paradigm.

North and South Dakota surprise me as the least depressed, however.

[Gabu]

I'd be depressed too if I were a Mormon.

OK, the free market or an island paradise.

New Jersey?

[J. J.]

No political, economic, religious, racial, age-based, or geographic patteren that I can see.  Interested.

[CultureKing]

I say depression in Washington is due to the crappy winter weather. They actually go on the news each year to talk about depression during the months of November-April because of the lack of sunlight and such.

Eventhough I personally love the rain.

[Padfoot]

Ohio explanation:

no jobs+losing to Florida twice in one school year= sad Ohioans

[Ebowed]

The depression in the Mormon triangle is hardly surprising.  The rate of depression is probably highest among Mormon women.  They are required to sacrifice their lives to have as many children as possible and support their husband.  The husband probably suffers from depression too, just because his wife is always feeling blue and neither of them are willing to talk about it with each other.

[Sibboleth]

Quite a strong class link in the eastern half of the U.S.

[Verily]

Quite a strong class link in the eastern half of the U.S.

Only in the Northeast, but even there Connecticut is WAY below where one would expect based on class.

[Former Moderate]

I'd have expected the states with the best healthcare coverage to have the highest rates of depression.  And somehow, I doubt the state of West Virginia can boast the "best healthcare coverage."

[Snowguy716]

Despite being rural, North and South Dakota have some of highest amounts of social interaction.

Community bonds are still very strong in the upper Midwest with strong community support of churches, schools, and other groups.

There's a book titled "Bowling Alone" that goes into deep analysis about social interaction in different states.  The upper Midwest has the highest rates while the deep south has the lowest rates.

If you look at other measures, such as amount of time spent watching TV, the upper Midwest ranks lowest...

I would link the breakdown of community and trust between neighbors for the rise in depression in the country in combination with difficulty to get help.

[Willy Woz]

Ja, Snowguy's got a point, eh. The Yooper Midwest consistently ranks at da top for highest standard of living, don't ya know...

(Pardon my fake Minnesota accent, I lived in Duluth for about two years)

[WalterMitty]

I'd have expected the states with the best healthcare coverage to have the highest rates of depression. 

exactly.

and i would also add that there are untold thousands that go undiagnosed, particularly men.  a lot of men are 1. rerluctant to go the doctor for depression, 2. have a poor undseerstanding of depression.  in a lot of men depression manifests itself much differently than it does in women.

[nclib]

No political, economic, religious, racial, age-based, or geographic patteren that I can see.  Interested.

Yes - the only map on that site that shows a pattern is the last one (age-adjusted suicide rates), and that has the Bush states with a much higher age-adjusted suicide rate than the Kerry states.

[Tik]

how long until people begin referring to the "sadness belt"?

[Platypus]

I'd have expected the states with the best healthcare coverage to have the highest rates of depression.  And somehow, I doubt the state of West Virginia can boast the "best healthcare coverage."

It's actually not that bad, b ut it is running out of money. It has a relatively strong prescription drug rebate.