Depression is more common in women because of hormonal changes that occur throughout their life. Women are much more subjected to fluctuating hormone levels.This is especially the case around the duration of of pregnancy, and menopause, as well as after giving birth or experiencing a miscarriage.
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Article Why is depression more prevalent in women?
Article Gender differences in depression
Social factors related to lifestyle for women ... and weather conditions (cold and storm) play a major role in stimulating and accelerating the incidence of depression in most women, but they are not the direct causes of these mental diseases.
In recent decades depression has become increasingly common in industralized countries such as the US and the UK, and is often referred to by physicians as 'the common cold of psychiatry'.
The reasons for this uneven gender distribution are not entirely clear, but are thought to be partly biological, partly psychological, and partly sociocultural.
Biological explanations
1. Compared to men, women may have a stronger genetic predisposition to developing depression.
2. Compared to men, women are much more subjected to fluctuating hormone levels. This is especially the case around the time of childbirth and at the menopause, both of which are associated with an increased risk of developing depression.
Psychological explanations
3. Women are more ruminative than men, that is, they tend to think about things more—which, though a very good thing, may also predispose them to developing depression. In contrast, men are more likely to react to difficult times with stoicicism, anger, or substance misuse.
4. Women are generally more invested in relationships than men. Relationship problems are likely to affect them more, and so they are more likely to develop depression.
Sociocultural explanations
5. Women come under more stress than men. Not only do they have to go work just like men, but they may also be expected to bear the brunt of maintaining a home, bringing up children, caring for older relatives.
I think depression is evident in all age groups. It is more in men , women and even children. Stress is the main contributor in this domain....I wish to mention that it is common and equally evident in men, women and teenagers.
In general, there are different reasons. The reasons include major changes in their life, changes in hormone levels, inability to carry out life tasks, stress, a sense of irrelevance in society, anxiety and nervous exhaustion.
الروتين يولد الملل وبالتالي الاكتئاب والروتين في حياة المرأة يكون بنسبة أكبر من حياة الرجل
Routine generates boredom and thus depression and routine in women's lives have a greater proportion than men's lives
Depression in women (hysterectomy) and in men (vasectomy):
Michael Uebel 's reference is an important one. It gives grounds for concern that our diagnostic criteria for depression are weighted to the symptoms that are more likely to be present in women, and misses symptoms that are more likely to be present in men.
I hadn't thought about this before, but some time today I'm going off to look at some data I have…
It is said even in WHO report that prevalence for depression in women is twofold (or sometimes even more) than for men. I suppose that cultural and economical reasons can play their role. It is also understandable that due to functional and developmental differences even the ways of expressing the symptoms would be different in women and men. Since it is a mood disorder and is connected to limbic system, even common knowledge tells us that the reactions on emotional stimuli would be different in many ways.
The fact that increased prevalence of depression in females is due to hormonal changes in women, particularly during puberty, prior to menstruation, following pregnancy and at perimenopause, suggests that female hormonal fluctuations may be a trigger for depression.
Check out this paper.
Article Why is depression more prevalent in women?
Might be due to some sorts of hormonal issues, social conditions...
I think depression in women is more now a days due to hormonal change, unhealthy environment, busy in work, competing with others ...
It is not just hormones, the picture is much more complex. First Disposition, then kindling, and also stress. Please review one of the most detailed study about the facts about the depression by Willner et al. 2013.
Things are not that simple. Being a woman is a risk for many other things, beside depression, but we are doing some science here :)
Seems to me that Milena B. Čukić has an important point. You ask on RG and you get people weighing in with mostly opinions. Did you notice the number of men saying Don't worry, Precious Adejoh Idakwoji , it's just hormones. I had to laugh.
Every difficult problem has a simple answer that is always wrong. I think that you should be reading up on this complex area for yourself, and separating the opinions from the models that have been tested against data.
I'm not sure, but I think that this is the Willner paper : Article The neurobiology of depression and antidepressant action
and here's another interesting one by him : Article The chronic mild stress (CMS) model of depression: History, ...
maybe Milena can clarify?
More than hormone factors, depression in women is more likely a social factor. Woman generally bear more burden than a man, and she never shuns away from any form of responsibility in general (as a mother, daughter, sister etc). Let us all introspect around us and see how many women are in actual running the family? More responsibility means more burden and more stress, and over the years lead to depression.
We should not live in wrong notion that depression in women is more than men. Maybe men are also equally depressed as women.
Sanatombi Devi Yumkham is right! Social factor has a huge weight to the women. They are pressed all life long to follow a way which contributes to depression: physical violence, huge possibility of rape (physical violence), psychological violence, earn less for the same job done by a man, and so on. Let me say, these examples are from Brazilian reality.
Best regards,
Well, its hard to tell but maybe the impression is such for man to see women more depressed but maybe because of that we can say that man is more depressed than women. At the end of the day both are more depressed.
But why should both be more depressed when they can chose to be both less depressed or not depressed at all.
At the end, we are all human beings and can get depressed but better to avoid it.
I think depression exists on both sides, but for women it is possible to be through the pressure of society or the psyche of the individual and thinking about it is a pressure on them.
and men are more aggressive than women and this makes women depressed!
It may be depended on biological or psychological differences between men and women , but social environment in many countries put a woman as a weaker sex or even slave without a financial income that a man can opposed her. This situation can suppressed everybody, man or woman.
Stressors women face in life are much more than those for men. These include financial, parenting, discrimination in the workplace, contributing considerably to maintaining the household, child rearing, etc.
Well, I do not agree the way you ask question. Because, you agree and state from view of male dominant culture. Depression is a response to life, we may say females may show symptoms more than Males. Males have depression but do not show it. In other way, women attempt suicide more than men but men commit suicide more than women. So, culture, SES level, biology, climate, etc. can be reasons for such questions
I think women aren't more depressed based on their gender. As I told above, environmental conditions bring more problems for them that cause depression.
The impression or, in fact, a little more prevalence of depression in women than in men is the result of certain features of the lifestyle of women. And this lifestyle can slightly increase both real depression and the registration of depression in women. This way of life also allows you to talk more openly about depression in women and to discuss this problem more. But if we consider the problem of depression in a person, depending on his gender, the sex differences in depression are minimal. Men and women are equally prone to depression. Depression is an internal problem of the human body, regardless of gender. Some external influences or sex differences only slightly change the course of the depression. Depression is a disease of the human body that does not depend on gender. The fundamental causes of depression in men and women are the same; they adapt to depression in a slightly different way. The effects of depression are equally heavy for both men and women.
It is likely that biological sex differences account for this variation.
Please see this article for further discussion.
Albert PR. Why is depression more prevalent in women?. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2015;40(4):219–221. doi:10.1503/jpn.150205
Hi,
Women, naturally withstand higher degrees of stress and stressful situations. However, a psychological study reveals that women tend to take things too personally and exaggerated imaginations do a lot of harm. Furthermore, their society and the practical constraints limit them from stress relievers, which men are usually accustomed to.
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