What Are the Causes of Gender Differences in Depression?

According to the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Steven E. Hyman, depression affects your entire body, affecting your mood, your critical thinking, and even causing physical ailments. He stated that the disease always affects twice as many women, except before adolescence when both sexes are affected equally.

Genetics

• Steven E. Hyman states that boys tend to develop autism, ADHD, or alcoholism later in life if it runs in the family. On the other hand, girls struggle with depression, anxiety, and other depressive disorders. He added that before children reach puberty, they are both as likely to suffer from depression, but then it shifts to women.

Developmental Reasons

• Jill Goldstein, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine and a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) grantee, discovered that the sexual differentiation in the brain during puberty, pregnancy, and menopause put women at risk for depressive disorders.

Health Problems

• According to Mary Jane Massie, M.D., attending psychiatrist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, while cancer patients may not admit to their oncologists that they are depressed, 33 percent were depressed when they were diagnosed. The Suicide and Mental Health Association International added that women tend to start treatment for both medical and mental health reasons.

Symptoms

• Men and women express their depression differently. Men may not admit they are depressed and irrationally blame others, creating conflict, and turning to alcohol, while women experience guilt and extreme sadness, withdrawing from others.

Suicide Differences

• Phyllis Greenberger, Executive Director of Society for Women's Health Research, discussed how although more men actually succeed at suicide attempts, more women attempt suicide when feeling depressed and hopeless.