Women and Depression: Understanding the Gender Gap

Depression, if gets too severe becomes bad for a person. It not only affects the person himself but it also affects that person’s family also affecting his work or school as well as personal life and his sleeping and eating habits as well. Depression also affects the well being of a person in a way that it leads to chronic medical conditions like diabetics. Women usually think that they can work through a depression on their own, knowing this fact that they suffer from depression more frequently than men do. They may get the wrong idea that the low risk related with medication management of depression, they may also believe that since they are smart diligent people an analyst or psychologist will be of no aid; these wrong beliefs are, regrettably very common. Sometimes medications for depression may have irritating side effects, such as insomnia, agitation, or sleepiness, but grave effects are very odd. Women with a true depression are suffering, such inconvenient, non-life intimidating side effects, which may diminish soon, nevertheless, are likely to be much more bearable than untreated depression for a lot of women. Repeatedly studies have revealed that either counseling or medication therapy, or both mutually, are really useful in securely relieving depression in both men and women. Biological factors behind depression for women There come into view to be significant links between mood changes and reproductive health events, gender differences in toll of depression emerge when females go through puberty and stay high throughout the childbearing years and into late middle period. Hormonal factors appear to play a function in some of the mood disturbance practiced by women, twenty to forty percent of menstruating women practice premenstrual temper and behavioral changes. Approximately two to ten percent of women experience Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, as several as ten to fifteen percent of women experience a clinical depression throughout pregnancy or subsequent to the birth of a baby. There also come into view to be an increase in depression during the perimenopausal period. An additional biological issue that may add to gender differences in depression can be connected to circadian rhythm patterns, the complex structure that regulates sleep and action over each 24-hour period. Depressed women report more hypersomnia (too much sleeping) than do men. The role of premenstrual factors in depression Hormonal fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycle can cause the common symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), for instance irritability, fatigue, bloating and emotional reactivity. For most of the women, PMS is easygoing, but for a number of women, symptoms are harsh enough to upset their lives and a diagnosis of premenstrual dysphoric chaos (PMDD) is made. Though the precise relation among depression and premenstrual syndrome remains vague, some examines say that cyclical modifications in progesterone, estrogen and additional hormones can upset the role of brain chemicals for instance serotonin that manage mood. Still, since such hormonal changes take place in the majority of women, but not all women build up depression, hormonal changes can't be the merely reason of depression in women. Genetic predisposition or other issues also can manipulate the development of depression. Postpartum depression Depression subsequent to childbirth is known as postpartum depression, hormonal changes may activate symptoms of postpartum depression, while a woman is pregnant, stages of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone boosts greatly. In the initial 24 hours following childbirth, hormone levels rapidly return to standard. Researchers believe the huge change in hormone levels may direct to depression. Levels of thyroid hormones can also fall after giving birth, which causes symptoms of depression. Role of perimenopause and menopause in a woman’s depression Perimenopause is the middle period earlier than menopause, which is marked by a twelve month’s termination of a woman’s menstrual cycle, throughout perimenopause, hormones change radically and few women feel an alteration in mood, anxiety and depression. Throughout this phase of transition, women start thinking about their achievements up to this point, women frequently view this time as a turning end, not only are perimenopausa l women examining their life thus far, they are practicing hormonal changes that are influencing them physically. Negative and positive role of social and cultural factors in a woman’s depression Role strain – Women frequently undergo role strain over contradictory and irresistible responsibilities in their life, the additional roles a woman is expected to play (mother, wife, working woman), the extra vulnerable she is to role strain and following stress and depression. Research specifies that single mothers are three times more probable than married mothers to practice an episode of main depression. Costello, 1993). Unequal power and status – Women’s comparative lack of power and position in society may direct to feelings of helplessness, this sense of helplessness puts women at larger risk for depression, and these feelings may be aggravated by discrimination in the place of work leading to underemployment or being without a job. An additional causal factor is society’s importance on youth, beauty, and thinness in women, traits which to a great level are out of their control. Sexual and physical abuse – Women are a lot more likely to be sexually abused than men, and researchers have found that sexual abuse in childhood puts one at enlarged risk for depression in maturity. Higher rates of depression are also found among sufferers of rape. Poverty – Poverty is more general among women than men, single mothers have the uppermost rates of poverty transversely all demographic groups. Poverty is a harsh, chronic stressor than can direct to depression. The positive affects of depression are that when the women have to live with less, they eventually learn to live with it and when they do not have a job, they will have more free time to spend with the family and friends. Moreover, it is good as it always gives way to struggle and makes art and music better. How does one go about getting treatment? Make healthy lifestyle changes Lifestyle alterations are never easy to make, but if altered can have a big impact on depression, self-help strategies that can be very effectual comprise: ? develop helpful relationships ? regular exercise and sufficient sleep Healthy, mood-boosting diet ? Stress management and practice relaxation methods ? confront negative thought patterns Seek professional help Professional help contains some form of therapy that gives tools to handle depression from a diversity of angles, a number of therapies teach practical techniques on how to reframe negative thoughts and employ behavioral abilities in fighting depre ssion can also assist working out through the origin of depression, helping understand why he or she feels a certain way, what triggers are for depression, and what he or she can do to stay healthy. Do you think women are more likely to seek out treatment? Why or why not? Women, first and foremost wives and daughters, provide the bulk of care giving, specifically in the United States, about 12 million women practice depression each year, at about twice the pace of men. A recent study found that many women do not look for treatment for depression since they are embarrassed or in refutation about being depressed, in fact, forty one percent of women reviewed cited embarrassment or disgrace as obstruction to treatment. What do you think it means to be a woman? Being female has nothing to act with being lesser or second class; it has to do with execution in a God-ordained role, from the commencement, God tells us that women, like men, were formed in His image and likeness, but as both sexes are equivalent in significance and potential, their roles are very diverse. That’s the reason why men and women think and act in a different way and that is why they look unlike. â€Å"It is not fine that the man should be unaccompanied; I will make him a help meet for him†. Manonly was not an entire creation, he needed aid, so God gave him a helpmeet, one who would execute the contrary role – so that united together the two might turn into one complete flesh.