Depressed Oklahoma
The National Mental Health Association in its Mental Health America Report has some depressing news for Oklahoma.
It seems Oklahoma is one of the most mentally depressed states in the country.
According to the report the only states more depressed than Oklahoma are Nevada, Rhode Island, Kentucky, West Virginia and the most depressed of all, Utah.
The rankings are based on suicide rate and number of residents in “serious psychological distress.’”
And while Oklahoma had 509 people commit suicide in 2005, Oklahoma’s suicide rate ranked 39th. The state with the worst suicide rate was Alaska, followed by Nevada, New Mexico and Montana.
The study found 13.3 percent of Oklahomans age 18 and older had “serious psychological distress” in the past year, and 8 percent of Oklahoma’s adult population experienced “major depressive episodes” in the past year.
The logical conclusion is that while more Oklahomans are depressed than folks in a lot of other places, we are evidently less prone to killing ourselves as a result.
Folks in Alaska on the other hand, although ranking 22nd on the list of least “depressed places”, ranks number one on suicide rate. Evidently Alaskans are more prone to doing something to end their misery than are Oklahomans, who tend to prefer to share their misery with others; usually family, friends and co-workers.
In any case the report and its revealing results are available for a while at Report: Okla. Near Tops In Depression
