Depression rates have reached an alarming new high

Depression rates in the United States have reached an alarming new high and they're getting particularly bad among the country's women and young adults according to a new survey from Gallup.

Gallup published the results of their latest polling on May 17 and found that 29% of U.S. adults had been diagnosed with depression in their lifetime, a fact the analytics company noted was "10 percentage points higher than in 2015."

Gallup's Dan Witters also pointed out in the company's new release that the number of Americans who are being treated for depression or have been in the past, had increased to 17.8% and that the number was up seven percentage points from when the company first began collecting data of the subject in 2015.

"I think the results are startling," Witters told ABC News, adding that depression didn't affect all groups equally and that had been sharp increases in adults under 30 as well as women, Blacks, and Hispanics.

Are you feeling depressed or anxious? You might be able to help ease your emotions by helping others according to a new study from Ohio State University. 

In a study conducted by Professor Jennifer Cheavens and David Cregg published in The Journal of Positive Psychology, the researchers found that performing acts of kindness for others provided patients benefits that were not seen with traditional therapeutics.

More importantly, acts of kindness proved to be the only intervention technique that helped those struggling with depression and anxiety to connect with those around them according to Cregg.

“Social connection is one of the ingredients of life most strongly associated with well-being,” Cregg told Ohio State News’ Jeff Grabmeier.

"Performing acts of kindness seems to be one of the best ways to promote those connections,” Cregg added.

Cheavens and Cregg’s wasn’t the first time researchers have proven that helping others could improve the symptoms of depression and anxiety. 

In 2021, a similar study published in Frontiers of Psychology found that practicing other-focused kindness could help those suffering from mental illness. 

“In sum, our study demonstrated that focusing attention on others via acts of kindness not only improves positive psychological well-being,” the study's authors noted. 

The 2021 study also found that acts of kindness could reduce “stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety in a sample of individuals vulnerable to mental illness.”

In the study conducted by Professor Chevens and Cregg, Chevans noted that our understanding of those who are depressed may be wrong and we should adjust how we advise those suffering from mental illness. 

We often think that people with depression have enough to deal with,” Chevans told Grabmeier, “so we don’t want to burden them by asking them to help others. But these results run counter to that.”

“Doing nice things for people and focusing on the needs of others may actually help people with depression and anxiety feel better about themselves,” Chevans added. 

Chevans and Cregg’s study involved 122 people with moderate to severe depression according to Grabmeier and were split into three groups with varying levels of kindness tasks to be done over the course of ten weeks. 

Some of the kindness tasks included baking for others, offering rides to friends, and offering roommates words of encouragement.

All three groups that participated showed a marked decrease in their depression and anxiety symptoms as well as a large increase in their overall life satisfaction according to Grabmeier.

“These results are encouraging because they suggest that all three study interventions are effective at reducing distress and improving satisfaction,” Cregg said.

“But acts of kindness still showed an advantage over both social activities and cognitive reappraisal by making people feel more connected to other people, which is an important part of well-being,” Cregg continued.

“There’s something specific about performing acts of kindness that makes people feel connected to others,” Chevans added, “it’s not enough to just be around other people, participating in social activities.”