Does Your Money Make You Sad?

Posted On July 28, 2011

It seems that, not only is it true that “Money Can’t Buy Happiness“, but it’s also associated with Sadness and Depression.

A recent study just now showed that depression rates are higher in richer countries than in low- or middle-income nations.

What Did This Study Do, Actually?

They took detailed interviews with more than 89,000 people in 18 nations. 15 percent of people in high-income countries were likely to get depression during their lifetime, compared with 11 percent of those in low- or middle-income countries.

About 5.5 percent of people in high-income countries had depression within the previous year.
High-income countries had higher rates of major depression (28 percent vs. 20 percent), and especially high rates (more than 30 percent) were found in the United States, France, the Netherlands and India.
China had the lowest rate of major depression (12 percent).
The average age at onset of depression was nearly two years younger in low-income countries, the investigators found.

Does This Mean You Should Send Me All Your Money?

GREAT idea, but actually no this study does NOT mean that you should empty your bank accounts for your mental health.

There are so many reasons why this study found what it found, and money itself is more likely to be a bi-product of the effect, than the cause itself. It’s just associated with depression … but the cause?

Remember, it is “the love of money” that is the root of all evil … not $ itself. It may be that we are in a much higher stress environment, or we place a much greater value to money’s value, or to the status it affords. I could see that those societal biases are the true cause, for which money itself is just the outlet.

Bottom Line?

The most important thing in your life are the people you love. That needs to be said, and expressed. You want to look at your investments, look at the time you spend with the people you love in your life. That is your greatest investment and the single most important way to prevent depression — money or no money.

The study, published July 25 in the journal BMC Medicine, was conducted by researchers at 20 centers in conjunction with the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative.

“We have shown that depression is a significant public-health concern across all regions of the world and is strongly linked to social conditions. Understanding the patterns and causes of depression can help global initiatives in reducing the impact of depression on individual lives and in reducing the burden to society,” Evelyn Bromet, of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, said in a journal news release.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about depression.

(SOURCE: BMC Medicine, news release, July 25, 2011)

Depression Higher in Wealthier Nations – healthfinder.gov

For more information: Click here to visit Will Clower’s website.