12/89Percentage of American men who say they deal with depression by trying to figure out their problems: 23

Roper Organization (New York City)

    Percentage who say they deal with depression by watching television: 35

Roper Organization (New York City)

8/90Percentage of veterinarians who say they have felt depressed after putting an animal to sleep: 67

Bruce Fogle, Portman Veterinary Clinic (London)

4/93Ratio of the number of women who deal with depression by eating to the number of men who do: 3:1

Dianne Tice, Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland)

    Ratio of the number of men who deal with depression by drinking or taking drugs to the number of women who do: 5:1

Dianne Tice, Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland)

12/94Percentage of American children who say they use flattery to get their parents to buy them things: 16

The Roper Organization (Storrs, Conn.)

    Percentage who say they “act depressed”: 10

The Roper Organization (Storrs, Conn.)

12/98Number of days this year during which Norway’s Prime Minister Kjell Bondevik was “too depressed” to work: 24

Royal Norwegian Consulate General (N.Y.C.)

6/99Chance that a legal antidepressant will alleviate severe depression: 1 in 2

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Rockville, Md.)

    Chance that a placebo will: 1 in 3

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Rockville, Md.)

11/00Year in which anxiety eclipsed depression among the most common mental-health problems in the United States: 1984

National Institute of Mental Health (Bethesda, Md.)