America, the land with the freedom to pursue happiness, isn’t exactly happy. Americans are stressed, burned out and depressed. Americans spend more time at work and less time on vacation compared to most other Western countries, which may contribute to the tremendous depression statistics. There is no surprise that depression affects approximately 15 million American adults(link is external), or about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population 18 years of age and older on a yearly basis. In the country where we measure our success by the things we own as opposed to our relationships with people who matter, happiness studies have proven that Americans are more dissatisfied with their lives than many other societies around the world.

The World Happiness Report(link is external) used by the United Nations, reveals that the United States, one of the economically wealthiest countries in the world, comes in at No. 15 on the Ranking of Happiness(link is external). With statistics such as these, it is no surprise that the cost of depression from a financial standpoint is now a major burden on the U.S. The cost of depression is not only measured from a monetary standpoint, but can be measured by social and emotional hardships as well.

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