The states with the lowest depression levels were Hawai'i and New Jersey.

The findings, released in a report by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, are based off figures from 2004 and 2005 studies on health and drug use and give the state another "Top 10" finish where mental health is concerned.

Montana has long had one of the nation's highest suicide rates.

"I think that with both suicide and depression a couple of things are at work in Montana," said Tracy Velazquez, executive director of the Montana Mental Health Association. "There's still a stigma attached to mental illness, plus Montana has a real problem with access to mental health care.

"For some people in rural communities, there's really no access at all, so that's bound to give us a higher rate of untreated depression."

Montana had the nation's seventh highest rate of depression in the report, slightly below other Western states like Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.

Utah had the highest rate at 10.14 percent. Montana scored 9.28 percent, about 20 percent higher than the national average of 7.65 percent, the study found.

The rural isolation of Montana lends itself to untreated depression, as does the difficulties small communities have attracting mental health professionals, Velazquez said.

"Some of these issues are very hard to fight, but if we can increase access to mental healthcare around the state, we should be able to start getting our numbers back in line with the national average," she said. "The shortage of professionals, though, that's a problem we really don't have a solution to quite yet."

Depression rates were much lower in preteen and teenage Montanans, and the state scored below the national average in those areas.

"Montanans have this history of just feeling like if they buck up everything will be OK," Velazquez said. "But it's better if people will start coming to terms with this as a disease and realize that treatment is very effective. We can do better than we're doing right now, and I think we will."

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