Two Studies Find Depression Widespread in Utah
Study Calling Utah Most Depressed, Renews Debate on Root Causes
ABC News
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
March 7, 2008
The still waters of the Great Salt Lake run deep -- and dark.
Take Wendy, a 40-year-old teacher and mother of three from Utah
County. To all appearances, she led the perfect life. Just as she was
expected to, she went from high school cheerleader to Mormon
missionary to wife and mother.
"But life has a funny way of not being perfect," she said. "Three
years into my marriage my husband was drinking, using drugs and
stepping out on me.
"I knew I was depressed and needed help, but there is a stigma about
depression in this area," said Wendy, who asked that ABCNEWS.com not
use her last name. "People think it's a sign of weakness. It means
you're not capable of being a good mother or wife or teacher."
Wendy's secret is Utah's secret. The postcard image of Utah is a state
of gleaming cities, majestic mountains and persistently smiling
people. But new research shows a very different picture of the state,
a snapshot of suicide and widespread depression.
A recent study by Mental Health America, the country's oldest
independent mental health advocacy organization, ranked Utah the most
depressed state in the country.
Another survey released last week by drug distribution company Express
Scripts found that residents of Utah were prescribed antidepressant
drugs more than those of any other state and at twice the national
average.
According to MHA, some 10.14 percent of adults in Utah "experienced a
depressive episode in the past year and 14.15 percent experienced
serious psychological distress. ... Individuals in Utah reported
having on average 3.27 poor mental health days in the past 30 days."
The reason for Utah's mass depression, however, is unknown.
"The truth is, we don't know why," said Dr. Ted Wander, spokesman for
the Utah Psychiatric Association.
Neither study was broken down by gender, but nationally women are
twice as likely to be diagnosed with depressive disorders as men,
experts told ABC News.
Psychiatrists point to several factors that could contribute to Utah's
high levels of depression: limited mental health resources, restricted
access to treatment as a result of cost, poor quality of resources and
a varied list of other factors, including an underfunded educational
system and a culture deeply rooted in the Mormon faith.
"Availability to resources, a lack of professionals and barriers to
treatment, including the ability to pay all drive up instances of
depression," said Dr. Curtis Canning, a Logan-based psychiatrist and
former president of the Utah Psychiatric Association. "But there is
also -- especially when it comes to women and girls -- a cultural
factor."
Seventy percent of Utah's residents are Mormon. When Express Scripts
issued its first national survey of prescription drug use in 2002, it
sparked a heated debate across Utah about what, if any role, the
church played in the state's high dependence on antidepressants such
as Prozac and Zoloft.
"In Mormon culture females are supposed accept a calling. They are to
be constantly smiling over their family of five. They are supposed to
take supper across the street to an ill neighbor and then put up with
their husband when he comes home from work and smile about it the
whole time. There is this sense that Mrs. Jones down street is doing
the same thing, and there is this undercurrent of competition. To be a
good mother and wife, women have to put on this mask of perfection.
They can't show their tears, depression or agony," Canning said.
"Obedience, conformity and maintaining a sense of harmony" are
unspoken but widely recognized behaviors, which all contribute to what
he calls "the Mother of Zion syndrome."
When Wendy first started seeking professional help and was put on
Zoloft 10 years ago, she felt the sting of shame even from her own
family members.
"Marriage and family are so important that there was a huge amount of
pressure to make things work. I was supposed to try harder, and buck
up and that would make me happier and keep my husband from abusing
me," she said.
"There are expectations from the community, but mostly from other
women," she said. "It doesn't come down from the church necessarily,
but it's passed from mother to daughter. My family was reluctant to
see me taking the drugs, but since seeing me at my worst, they now
encourage me to take my meds."
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints, however, says the
high number of prescriptions is a result of people receiving the drugs
they need in Utah more than in other places.
"I don't think it's clear that there's a crisis in Utah," said Brent
Scharman, a psychologist and the assistant commissioner of LDS Family
Services, a church network that provides counseling. "You've got one
camp that says there is more depression and another camp that says we
just have more consumers." Scharman said studies on organized religion
and depression found that religious people were generally happier than
nonreligious people, and that held true for Mormons.
"It always boils down to the issue of what influence the LDS lifestyle
has on the depression phenomenon," he said. "Non-LDS and some LDS
people say this is a kind of driven lifestyle and that we push too
hard and smile too much. But studies show, and those living it out
see, that religion is good support. It creates a positive network and
helps people get through crises and deal with long-term problems.
"Are there people who feel 'I'm not living up to the LDS ideal,' or
'I'm not living up to my family's expectations'? Absolutely, there is
no question. But having done counseling outside the LDS community, I
saw people there, too, who were depressed because of perfectionism,"
he said. "I wouldn't say it is any worse here than in more diverse
communities."
The MHA study evaluated information from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C.,
and factored in suicide statistics to determine each state's
"depression status."
http://www.truthandgrace.com/Mormon.htm
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