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Report on SmartGirls Think About Depression
Smart girls decide for themselves™.
Altogether, there were 517 people that took this survey: 497 of which were girls, 10 boys, and 10 that did not specify a gender. Most of those that participated in this survey are the oldest children in their family (194 of you), with the youngest coming in a close second (149)!
People from all different parts of the world took this survey. Responses were sent in from Namibia, Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Japan, Pakistan, Bulgaria, India, South Africa, and the Philippines just to name a few! Everyone also came from many different ethnic backgrounds:
# 161 people said they are of European descent
# 58 people said they are of African descent
# 56 people said they are of multiracial descent
# 54 people said they are of Asian descent
# 35 people said they are of Latin American descent
# 17 people said they are of Native American descent
# 15 people said they are of Middle Eastern descent
# 4 people said they are of Oceania/Pacific Islander descent
So now you can see how different people around your age feel about depression around the world!
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Whether you are from a big city, a rural area, a town or a village, we know that everyone has an opinion on depression. Here is a graph of where the homes of those who took this survey are. Maybe their location has something to do with their responses? What do you think?
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| Location of Homes of the Respondents |
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It turns out that most of you decided that depression is a very serious problem!!
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| Here's what everyone thought... |
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count | percent |
problem
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| very serious |
231 | 44.68 |
| serious |
156 | 30.17 |
| somewhat serious |
95 | 18.38 |
| bit serious |
31 | 6 |
| not serious |
4 | 0.77 |
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When asked how often you see advertisements (for medications, support groups, etc.) that seek to help people with depression, most surveyors (190) answered only sometimes, 152 said all the time, 133 said rarely, and 42 said never! Also, 132 (the majority in this category) of you answered that only 2 to 3 of the television shows that you watched referenced depression. That's pretty impressive!
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Now down to some really serious stuff. When you were asked whether or not you had a family member or a friend that suffered from depression, the majority answered yes for both! These are some pretty remarkable numbers. It is amazing to see how prevalent depression really is.
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| Family Member(s) With Depression? |
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| Friend(s) With Depression? |
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The majority of surveyors said that they did not think that they were depressed or would be diagnosed as depressed. However, there was a significant amount of people who said that they have been diagnosed with depression. This is not surprising considering the responses to the two previous questions about family and friends because you, the surveyor, are the family member of someone, and the friend of someone.
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| Have you ever been diagnosed with depression? |
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So, if anyone were to ever see a psychologist or a psychiatrist (people that can help with depression), what would you talk about? The real question here is what would you be most comfortable talking about. While therapists can help the process treating depression, the individual diagnosed with it must communicate to the professional. Here are the things people your age felt were the easiest to talk about...
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| What is the easiest thing to talk about? |
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count | percent |
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talking
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| family |
70 | 13.83 |
| home |
40 | 7.91 |
| school |
73 | 14.43 |
| friends |
55 | 10.87 |
| relationships |
51 | 10.08 |
| religion |
16 | 3.16 |
| bodyhealth |
38 | 7.51 |
| nothing |
67 | 13.24 |
| other |
96 | 18.97 |
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| The top three categories (aside from "other") turned out to be school, family, and nothing. Would this be true for you too? What would your top three categories be? |
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Now onto a more positive note. What did our surveyors say would make them feel better if they felt depressed? The choices that they had were: taking medicine, psychotherapy, a family member, a teacher, a religious leader, praying, being with friends, exercising, good food, favorite activities, nothing, and other. It turns out that for most people, being with friends is the thing that would make them feel the best! :)
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| What would make you feel better if you were feelin' down? |
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| Of course some things weren't listed as choices. You might think of something completely different that would work just as well for you! |
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When asked how well you agree with the following statement: "Depression is a condition that only affects adults, and young people don't have to worry about it", the overwhelming number of 436 surveyed said that they disagree. The truth of the matter is that depression can affect young people. While some are more at risk than others, depression affects a wide range of people of different ages. This doesn't mean that everyone should start worrying, just know that it can affect young people and it is good to be educated in the subject of depression.
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Speaking of being educated, when asked whether or not they would like to learn more about depression, 203 people said that they would like to learn more, 216 said they probably would, 52 said that they don't know, and 46 decided that they weren't interested.
For those that decided they would like to learn more about depression, the types of things that they would like to learn about were: symptoms, how to help, treatment, how to help themselves, the causes of depression, the different types of depression, and other. This graph represents the distribution of those choices.
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| Things to Learn More About Depression |
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| *For the category of "other" can you think of anything else that you might be interested in? |
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There are all different ways to get information about depression. There are certain professionals such as psychologists and psychiatrists that could give you some info, or even someone like your school counselor would be a good person to talk to. There are also other ways to find out more about depression. In terms of our survey,125 computer-savvy individuals such as yourselves said they get their info from the internet, 114 people said school, 57 said from home, 25 said from a therapist, 21 said doctor, 5 said extracurricular activities (or activities outside of school), and 121 people chose other. Some good places to get information on depression that were not listed as choices here could be a health clinic, or the school nurse. Of course there are always other ways to find things out. Be resourceful!
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How well do you think you could identify the symptoms of depression?
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| Would you know depression when you saw it? |
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Once again we look to you...
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| Would you know your own symptoms if YOU were depressed? |
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| Might it be harder to tell with yourself than with someone else? |
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For those of you who have been diagnosed with depression, or if you were to ever be diagnosed with depression, what would your feelings be about taking medication to help relieve the symptoms? Here is what our survey takers decided:
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| Would you take medication to help you with depression? |
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count | percent |
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takingmeds
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| yes |
195 | 37.72 |
| notsure |
192 | 37.14 |
| no |
130 | 25.15 |
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In terms of helping people with depression, how much do you think has been done to make their lives better?
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| HELP! HELP? HELP! |
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| It looks like you came to the conclusion that more is needed to be done! Any future psychologists out there? This could be your ticket to the top! :) |
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When we asked what kind of stigma what thought to be involved with having depression, we got a very wide range of answers. Some people discussed their definitions of depression, while others talked about how others view depression. Here are a few of the responses:
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-"There is none. You cannot be ashamed of having a medical condition. The only kind of shame of having depression is when you know that you have it, but then try and convince everyone that you do not have depression. Then you are betraying their trust."
-"People think you are weird and suicidal but it's not true. I think I have been depressed for a while (since I was about 13), but not so serious that I cut myself and stuff. I just cried about nothing and felt lonely."
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-"Constantly being down, doing things different from what you normally do for long periods of time. It's not just like being temporarily depressed for a day or two. A person can feel like that for months, or even years."
-"A depressed person is thought to not be able to concentrate on their studies; they would be an introvert; they wouldn't have any spirit in life, and they cry all the time."
-"People might think that you don't have any friends or family that cares about you."
-"A depressed person has unhappy situations at home, in life, etc."
-"People might avoid you because they find you dull and perhaps even dangerous. Because they don't understand, they ignore the fact that millions of perfectly normal people suffer from depression and instead focus on the label of 'mental illness.' As soon as those words are mentioned, people start to back off because they're bored with you or frightened of you. And that, for a depressive, hurts so much that it can cause more damage than anything else."
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-"I think frustration, crying all the time, anger, and many other symptoms."
-"People sometimes think that depression is something to be ashamed of and that means that the person is mad and/or suicidal."
-"I don't think there is a stigma involved with having depression."
-"Being sad or angry all the time."
-"Feeling lost all the time."
-"Lack of activeness as well as sadness."
-"Always being quiet when the person is actually very outgoing."
-"That mostly only adults have depression, and that it is not a kind of disease."
-"Feeling emotionally negative, alone, and not at peace with yourself."
-"Sadness."
-"I think you become very sad and you never want to do fun things anymore."
-"Someone who always wants to be alone, cuts or tries to hurt themselves, is always down about everything going on in their life, and blames themselves for things that are out of their control - like a relative dying or parents splitting up."
-"That they're weird or are faking it."
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-"You are down all the time, nothing can cheer you up."
-"You cannot concentrate in school, being an introvert, not having any spirit in life, and crying all the time."
-"Wanting to cry more often, feeling really sad"
-"Not leaving your house, staying in bed, not communicating with others as much as you would usually do."
-"A person who is moody all the time, has mood swings, and doesn't talk much to others. Doesn't make an effort to socialize or do his or her responsibilities, because he or she has given up, and thinks 'what's the point anyway?'"
-"Suicide."
-"Being alone, crying, becoming introverted, and being shy."
-"I think it's when you don't have interest in things you used to like and you start to become distant from family and friends."
-"You feel sad a lot, and wish there was more meaning to your life, and wonder exactly why you are depressed."
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Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts
with us!
Please remember that all web-based polls
are not scientific because the pollsters cannot randomly select the
respondents to participate in the surveys.
All our surveys are anonymous; check out our privacy
policy. All data copyright 1996-2000.
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