Germans and Depression

Around three or four times a year....I will come to see some footnote on the German news or in some German newspaper, which hypes up the issue with Germans and the state of depression with folks.

Around a decade ago, there was a medical survey by the Barmer GEK health insurance folks here in Germany.  They chatted about the continuing trend with mental illness, depression and schizophrenia with Germans.  Since they were 'holders' of the money.....they cared about the increasing days spent by people in hospital beds.

Their numbers then (remember, this was a decade ago) was around 500 days in the hospital per 10,000 people for depression.

Schizophrenia followed with just over 500 days a year.

Part of this story, as I remember it.....folks in either category...typically had a minimum of 30 consecutive days in the hospital.

The WHO folks went and did a study....strictly over Germans, and revealed that one in ten has at least one episode in life that required a hospital stay.  In their study, they even came to say that 15,000 will attempt suicide in a normal year.  You have to remember though....this is out of a 82-million population.  But the one key thing they briefly chatted upon, which surprised me.....is that roughly 7-million Germans are thought to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks.

My German father-in-law (passed on over 20 years ago) revealed toward the last five of his years that he suffered from this.  The German mother-in-law (passed on over 35 years) had serious depression and apparent panic attacks.  The German brother-in-law (passed on four years ago) had panic attacks and anxiety issues.  Gene-wise, it would suggest that it's pretty well coded into the DNA.

So the hype with Germans and depression and anxiety/panic attacks?  I'm not a medical wiz, nor do I sit and read over hundreds of medical journals yearly (I will admit that I probably read sixty medical articles monthly, mostly because things of the medical discussion that interest me).  But I do tend to sit and observe Germans and view cultural landscapes.  So I'll offer four observations:

1.  This winter long darkness period does play a role in the shaping of depression and anxiety with Germans.  There's not much doubt about the sequence, and the more 'cheerful' nature of Germans in spring and summer months.

2.  From school age on up.....there's peer pressure to perform.  You need to reach X-level.  If you don't.....you get left behind.  If you can't meet the standardized tests, or the requirements required....no problem, you aren't going with the crowd.  For a lot of people, it's a hard thing to accept, and it's stressful for folks to fit into this 'lagger' role.

3.  Folks don't move.  Go chat with a dozen Germans, and ask where they grew up, and where they live as adults.  Don't be surprised if 50-percent say they live now at age thirty-five....within twenty miles of where they grew up.  Accepting some dramatic move, or a big challenge with a new company 300 miles away from your 'established' territory.....is something that people don't typically accept.

4.  That five to six weeks of vacation a year?  It's a fairly expected thing because Germans will tell you...in blunt words.....they really need a week off here, or two weeks off there.  They build this pressure up and this leave period, as far as they are concerned.....is the only safety valve that they have.  When it comes up in conversation that Americans rarely get more than two weeks of leave a year....the German typically sits amazed.

The 'Kur'?  Well....this plays into this whole depression situation as well.  At the point where a mental breakdown is discussed by your doctor.....this is typically the solution that health insurance folks will approve, if the doctor recommends it.....30 days at some hotel deal with relaxation built into the daily structure.  Go and ask your local German to detail the hype and how it works with the Kur.

A major topic with all this depression stuff?  No.  I don't think that 90-percent of Germans really care to discuss the matter or their issues.  They are the 'hold-it'in' type crowd.  On the list of a hundred things NOT to bring up with your German buddies at the pub?  Yeah, this would be on the forbidden list as far as Germans are concerned.