Depression is most common in people living alone

The number of people living alone in the United States and Britain has doubled in the past 30 years and it is reported that in each of these two countries, one in three lives alone. A new study published in the BMC Public Health magazine showed that the risk of getting depressive illness is about 80% higher than that of a single person living alone or living with a community, according to people who use antidepressants.

For women it was reported that one third of the increase in risk is due to sociodemographic factors such as unemployment and low income level. In males, it was stated that the most important factors were bad working environment, lack of support in the workplace and private life, and advanced alcohol use.

While it is known that living alone is a factor that increases mental health problems in old age and divorced parents, the data about the effects of living alone in working age individuals were not sufficient. In Finland, 3500 women and men who followed the man for 7 years compared the risk factors of psychosis, socio-demographic, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and low physical activity to the rates of antidepressant use by these researchers for 7 years. Information on the use of antidepressants was obtained from the National Recipe Register Center.

Dr. Laura Pulkki-Raback from the Institute of Occupational Health in Finland "Our study found that individuals who are living alone have a higher risk of developing depression. In general, the effect of living alone on the risk of developing depression was not different between men and women. Bad living conditions (especially in women) and loss of social support (especially in men) have been identified as the most important elements of this risk increase. "

Pulki-Raback "... this type of work tends to detect less frequently than the current risk. Because those with the highest level of risk are less likely to complete the follow-up study than others. For this reason, we can not determine the frequency of untreated depression, "he said.

This research has identified some factors in the risk of developing depression among those living alone, but more than 50% of the risk situation has not yet been explained. Researchers have reported that this may be due to collective alienation, lack of confidence, and difficulties arising from significant life events. For this reason, it would be beneficial to focus on social initiatives for all these factors so that the frequency of depression in the working age population can be reduced.