By Jung Min-ho
One in eight Koreans suffer from major depression, an alarming finding for the country where the suicide rate is one of the highest in the world, the nation’s health studies center said Sunday.
According to a survey conducted by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) in 2012, 12.9 percent of Korean adults said they experienced major depression.
Depression here was defined as two or more weeks of persistent depressed mood accompanied by symptoms of depression, such as loss of interest in daily activities, changes in appetite and feeling tired all the time.
The survey also showed that old women who live in rural areas with low incomes are the group most vulnerable to the debilitating medical condition.
A total of 16.5 percent of female respondents said they had experienced depression, compared to only 9.1 men.
Among people in their 70s or older, 17.9 percent said they had suffered from the condition, while 15.1 percent of those in their 60s and 12.9 percent of those in their 40s said respectively they too suffered from depression.
The wealthier people are, the less likely they are to suffer from depression. 15.3 percent of people in the bottom 25 percent of the income bracket said they had experienced periods of persistently low moods, in comparison with 10.9 percent of those in the top 25 percent.
Despite the high numbers of people experiencing depression, only 9.7 percent of them sought medical help. Men were more reluctant to get therapy or counseling than women, so were people aged 65 or over than those between 19 and 64.
Meanwhile, suicide is one of the most common causes of death for Koreans. In 2012, suicide was the top cause of death among Koreans aged between nine and 24.
Korea’s suicide rate remained the highest among members of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) from 2002 to 2012.
In 2012, the rate in Korea reached 28.1 for every 100,000 people, while the average rate among the OECD nations was 12.1.
“Only a small percent of depressed people seek medical help for depression because of the prejudice against it as well as a lack of public awareness of its needs for medical treatment,” said Kim Yun-ah, a researcher at the KCDC.
“The government has to be more proactive to change people’s perceptions about depression and set up more systematic support for those who suffer from it.”