When depression is not treated in elderly white men (in the United States), the suicide rate is six times the national average. Unbelievably, 75 percent of those men will have been seen by a doctor within several months of their deaths: clearly a doctor who did not truly “see” them! Proper treatment can prevent suicide, but because it so often goes unrecognized, the (U.S.) National Institute of Mental Health considers depression in people age 65 and older to be a major public health problem (Helpguide.org, n.d.).