For every two homicides committed in the United States, there are three suicides. The death rate from suicide is higher than the death rate for chronic liver di

For every two homicides committed in the United States, there are three suicides. The death rate from suicide is higher than the death rate for chronic liver disease, Alzheimer’s, homicide, arteriosclerosis or hypertension. Depression is the cause of over two-thirds of suicides in the U.S. each year. Depression is a terminal illness: it kills 15% of its sufferers. Depression is no more 'wallowing in their own problems' than cancer or Alzheimer’s. Depression is an illness caused by an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain. It has physical as well as mental symptoms. It is very common in young white men (of all classes) and it kills 20,000 in the U.S. every year. I wouldn't be surprised if Depression was the biggest killer of Y-Combinator readers. Depression gets a bad rap because it shares the word people use when they are feeling a bit fed up. Depression feels nothing like that. It feels like death. Try living with a cancer sufferer. Try living with an Alzheimer’s sufferer. Most young men with a mild flu are a nightmare to live with. Tough shit: that's illness: it's grim. People with terminal illnesses are grim company. Why is it OK to say these things about Depression sufferers? Would you say them about someone with terminal cancer? If you did you would, quite rightly, be called out as a dick.