Thursday, April 12, 2012

Signs of Depression in Women

It is about 14-15 million people in the United of States experience depression every year! And most of them is not men but women (which almost 75 percent of these women doesn't get the right treatments that are actually needed). If you are a woman, you should clearly understand the common signs of depression in women, because you have higher risk of having clinical depression than men!

You might also like to know more about depression symptoms in men and how to get over depression, before continuing!

There are some people who often underestimate this disorder! In fact, depression can be a pervasive & serious mood disorder. Feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, helplessness, or sadness are some common bad effects that can be generated by this disorder. The symptoms of depression are range from mild to moderate, or sometimes can be more serious or severe!

Depression is relatively more common in women than in men, why?

This condition is usually often referred for adults. But the rate of this disorder is almost equal in boys and girls (particularly before adolescence).

The increased likelihood of this disorder in women may be influenced by changes in certain hormones that develop throughout a woman’s life! For examples, a woman will experience significantly changes in their hormone during menopause, pregnancy and puberty!

Furthermore, many experts believe that women may have more changes in hormone levels than men. Women have regularly menstrual cycles, while men don’t have these cycles!

Women also have chance of having PMS (premenstrual syndrome) and PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder).

Depression symptoms in women

There are some common signs of depression in women, and according to a published article on WebMD, some of them may include:

Table source: WebMD

Furthermore, there is also a condition that we call as mania, which is a highly elevated mood that usually can be accompanied with bipolar disorder. Mania is serious disorder that requires more medical treatment & assessment.

Some mania signs or symptoms in women may include:

Table source: WebMD
What are risk factors of depression in women?

Risk factors of depression in women are conditions or factors that can put a woman at higher chance of having depression. There are some factors that increase your risk!

Some common factors that can higher the risk of having depression in women (according to a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health) include:
  1. Genetic.
  2. Reproductive.
  3. Personal characteristics.
  4. Certain psychological.
  5. And other interpersonal factors and biological factors.
Some conditions that can make you get more stress (like being single mom to raise kids) may also contribute to increase your risk. Other risk factors of depression in women may include:
  1. If you have some bad experiences, like loss of your mother or father before the age of 10.
  2. Side effects of certain medications.
  3. Having social stress, like having problem with your relationship (relationship stress), divorce experience, loss of your job, etc.
  4. In early reproductive years, you have a history of mood disorder!
  5. You have a family history of mood disorders. For this case, if you get depression -- generally, you will begin to find your signs of depression between the ages of 15 & 30.
  6. Sexual or physical abuse as a kid.
Furthermore, there are also some women who are more likely to get depression in the winter (seasonal effect), or after the birth (this is often associated with postpartum depression).
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Reference: WebMD
Image credit to ‘Oleg Golovnev /Shutterstock’ for illustration