• Approximately 80 percent of older adults with depression improve when they receive treatment with antidepressant medication, psychotherapy, or a combination of both.
• Over 70 percent of older suicide victims visit their primary care physician within the month of their death; many have a depressive illness that goes undetected during these visits.
• Medications alone appear to be helpful in approximately 50% of the cases.
• In the United States, researchers estimate that in any given one year period, depressive illnesses affect 12 percent of women (more than 12 million women) and nearly 7 percent of men (more than six million men).
• In 2002, suicide was the third leading cause of death among young males, age 15 to 24.

MyLastSigh posted a photo:

I woke up twice in the middle of the night; at 2 and at 4. My chest felt constricted, as if there was a towel inside me being twisted and twisted tight. My heart is fine. It seems I had an anxiety attack. But it was rather frightening.