How Men and Women Respond Differently to Depression
Social scientists estimate
that approximately eleven million people are struggling with depression each
year. Research indicates that the combined affect of lost productivity and
medical expense due to depression costs the
Most depressed individuals
do not seek treatment and go undiagnosed. It is estimated that between 60 and
80 % of the people with depression never get help. Men, women, and their
families are reluctant to acknowledge their depression. This is unfortunate in
that current research indicates that approximately 80 to 90% of depressed
individuals can get relief with a combination of therapy and medication.
Depression is silent and
insidious in that it slowly develops with time and is not vivid such as a
cancerous tumor in a woman’s breast or cancerous prostrate gland. Depression
that is not resolved is progressive and may be life threatening. Not addressing
the depression leads to other behaviors that have negative impact on the
depressed person’s life. Depression greatly inhibits a person’s ability to
function. It is the combination of decrease in ability to function and participating
in behaviors that are self-defeating that appears to lead to life threatening
situations. These behaviors-- drinking alcohol, drugs, food, excessive work and
sex-- are designed to avoid responsibility for resolving their emotional pain.
Other symptoms include
loss of interest in life in areas where you use to enjoy. Are you having a hard
time making decisions? Do you lack motivation in life or do you have push
yourself to do things? Do you feel that life is not worth living?
Depression’s symptoms include
a chronic depressed mood and feeling of sadness. There is a central belief
around feeling hopelessness and helplessness. A pattern of sleep disturbance --
increased or decreased—and an increase or decrease in weight is common. A.
Beck, a prominent psychiatrist, found that depressed people tend to have a
negative view of self, the world, and their future. Another symptom associated
with depression is difficulty with concentration and decision making. Depressed
individuals are significantly more likely to attempt suicide and be successful
in committing suicide.
Suicide is the ninth
leading cause of death in the
Age is another risk
factor. The suicide rate increases over 45 years of age and continues upward.
Men over 85 commit suicide at the rate of 50 per 100,000. That fastest growing
rate of suicide is with the 15- to 24-year old young men. For the African
American men the greatest suicide rate is males 15 to 24 years old.
Women tend to request
treatment for depression more than men at a ratio of 2 to 1. Research indicates
that the lifetime incidence of major depression is 21 % for women and 12.7% for
men. Men and women tend to manifest pathology differently. Drug dependency
among men 9.2% and for women is 5.9%. Alcoholism among women is 8.2% and among
men is 20.1%. Women are twice as likely to experience simple phobia and
generalized anxiety disorders.
Terrence Real, a
psychotherapist and author, in his “I Don’t Want to Talk About It” proposes
that men may experience two types of depression, overt and covert depression.
Overt depression is indicated with symptoms that were already presented in this
discussion. Covert depression is when the associated feelings of depression
including emotional pain is repressed and avoided. Terrence proposes that one
common link both forms of depression for men is the tendency to act out their
aggression. Covertly depressed men tend to act out their aggression outwardly
toward others. This is evident in the fact that 90% of incarcerated people are
men. Overtly depressed men, in contrast, tend act out their depression toward
themselves, which is evident in the high success rate of men who commit
suicide. In order for covertly depressed men to heal they will need to address
the pain they have been avoiding.