Depression More Likely to Strike Women, Study Says

Women are much more likely than men to be struck by depression because of such factors as sexual and physical abuse, unhappy marriages and poverty, the American Psychological Assn. said today.

Contrary to popular belief, biological factors such as premenstrual syndrome, menopause and postpartum depression play a relatively small role in causing depression in women, the association said.

Instead, women appear to be at least twice as likely as men to develop depression in part because of sex-role stereotypes that create negative self-images, limit their opportunities and increase their chances of being victimized in some way, the report said.

“Women truly are more depressed than men, primarily due to their experience being female in our contemporary culture,” said Ellen McGrath, who chaired the APA’s 20-member Task Force on Women and Depression, which prepared the report.

At least 7 million women in the United States have been diagnosed as suffering from depression but as many as half of all cases may never be diagnosed, the APA said. One of every four women will develop clinical depression sometime in their lives, compared to one of eight men.

“It is astonishing how often this difference is denied by assuming that women more readily report emotional distress than men,” said McGrath at a news conference where the 95-page “Women and Depression” report was released.

The report calls for improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of the debilitating mental illness and more research.

“Women are doubly disadvantaged,” said Dr. Jean Hamilton, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Unversity of Texas. “Not only do we suffer twice as much depression as men, but special issues that complicate our depressions are often unappreciated, leading to under-treatment or over-treatment.”