Depression is a complicated subject to talk about. It feels daunting to talk to others about it when you are going through depression—and it’s not easy to talk about it with a person going through it.

Major depressive disorder, or depression, impacts millions of people. It impacts women, men, teens, and older adults. It doesn’t discriminate. However, on average, women are more likely to develop depression.

Why Do Women Develop Depression At Greater Rates?

Hormones

Women experience greater shifts in their hormonal balances than men. At the start of puberty, women undergo many changes that impact their hormone levels. From pregnancy to postpartum and then menopause, hormones are in constant fluctuation.

The chemical balance of the brain and body plays a crucial role in the development of many mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. When hormones are constantly fluctuating, it increases the odds of a woman becoming depressed.

Shifting Periods

A woman will go through many changes throughout her lifetime. Both personally as well as physically. With each season of life, women will commonly face a new set of challenges that they didn’t have before.

We expect life to change, but this can be especially challenging for women to cope with. Getting older, your body changes. It isn’t easy to accept these changes when society puts a premium on being young. Then, there are the challenges everyone faces. Parents growing older, spouses changing, transitioning into new careers. It all gets to be a lot. When life changes or becomes something we don’t recognize, it increases the likelihood of depression developing as we try to face our new realities.

Family History

This goes for men and women. A family history of mental health concerns such as depression increases the chance of developing it in future generations. That doesn’t mean that a woman will experience depression symptoms if her own mother or someone else does. But genetics and family history play a much larger role in mental health than many people realize.

Life Circumstances

This one likely goes without saying, but life circumstances can influence depression. Men aren’t immune to this, but women are more likely to experience depression because of their hormone levels as well as life circumstances.

 

These circumstances can include:

• Divorce
• Job loss
• Loss of loved ones

Bear in mind that depression does not need to have a specific cause to occur. Unfortunately, many women will experience depression for so many different reasons—making it impossible to pinpoint a singular cause.

Relationship Problems

Platonic and romantic relationships can leave many of us feeling drained. Past experiences of abusive or toxic relationships can leave a woman feeling miserable or out of sorts.

Even women in marriages or long-term relationships can feel drained. Since women are often seen as the caregivers of a family unit, they are often left to be responsible for the majority of household or child responsibilities.

While many women are happy to provide for their families this way, sometimes, they just need a break from it all—to be taken care of instead of the other way around.

How To Deal With Depression

There is no one size fits all cure for dealing with depression symptoms. The management and healing process will happen; it just’s a matter of finding what works best for an individual woman. For many women, the best way out of the darkness is through a combination of medication, lifestyle changes, and counseling.

Therapy is no longer as stigmatized as it once was, and there’s nothing wrong with admitting you need extra support. Don’t hesitate to reach out to learn more about depression treatment.