Gallup: Clinical depression hits new highs in polling

Record high numbers of adults responding to a recent Gallup poll have received treatment for clinical depression.

The polling company’s latest survey found that 29% of adults say they have been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime, about 10 percentage points higher than in 2015, when Gallup first sent out the questionnaire. 

Another 17.8% of respondents said they currently have or are being treated for depression, up roughly 7 points over the same period. 

Both rates are the highest since Gallup started measuring depression with a new model of data collection in 2015.

Clinical depression rates were rising slowly in the annual survey before COVID-19 but “jumped notably” after pandemic lockdowns in 2020, the company noted.

“While experiences of significant daily loneliness have subsided in the past two years amid widespread vaccinations and a slow return to normalcy, elevated loneliness experiences during the pandemic likely played a substantive role in increasing the rates of the longer-term, chronic nature of depression,” Gallup said Wednesday, adding that an estimated 44 million adults now report experiencing significant loneliness “yesterday.”

The company flagged social isolation, loneliness, fear of infection, psychological exhaustion among first responders, elevated substance abuse and disruptions in mental health services for driving the surge in depression rates.

According to the latest survey, these factors hit women, young adults and minorities the hardest.

Lifetime depression rates are “climbing fast among Black and Hispanic adults and have now surpassed those of White respondents,” who historically reported higher levels before the pandemic, Gallup noted.

And 36.7% of women said they were diagnosed with depression at some point in their lifetime, compared to 20.4% of men. 

Adults aged 18-29 (34.3%) and 30-44 (34.9%) reported significantly greater depression diagnosis rates in their lifetime than those over 44.

Women (23.8%) and adults aged 18-29 (24.6%) also recorded the highest rates of current depression or treatment for depression this year. 

The polling company surveyed 5,167 members of its Gallup Panel on Feb. 21-28. The margin of error ranged from plus or minus 1.3 to 4 percentage points at the 90-95% confidence level, depending on the subgroup and other factors.