I know you guys probably have questions about how I feel, and you guys are going to be surprised at what I can say when it comes to how I cope.
But I think it’s worth mentioning that I’m not the only one feeling the pressure.
In a recent report for the New York Times, Katherine Pappas, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, examined the prevalence of depression in young women, and the ways that social isolation and anxiety can be used to manage these problems.
For Pappos, who is also a writer and professor at the Graduate School of Education at the City University of New York, the findings are striking.
“The majority of young women with depression, who were interviewed by Pappes, said that they experienced depression, anxiety, or both,” she writes.
“About half said they had symptoms of both depression and anxiety.”
Pappas adds that, in general, women have higher rates of depression than men.
So how do we break down depression and its symptoms?
“I think a lot of it is simply the social stigma that we have around depression,” Papples said.
“It’s also a very subtle and very hard-to-diagnose disorder.
It’s a condition that people tend to associate with other people with the same symptoms.”
According to Pappaps, women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression if they are socially isolated, which is why the researchers found that “most women with major depression are also lonely.”
In contrast, “men are less likely to report having depression or anxiety.”
The researchers found, however, that depression was most common in women who had experienced childhood sexual abuse.
Pappapas points out that this may be because “children are more vulnerable to depression and more likely [to be] affected by the trauma of childhood sexual violence than adults.”
Pelton said that it’s important to note that the research does not indicate that women are less susceptible to depression than other women, though it does suggest that “the prevalence of severe depression is lower among women than men.”
So while the prevalence rate of depression among women is low, it’s not a problem that is universal, Pelton said.
However, the stigma surrounding depression is definitely an issue, especially when it’s used to justify discrimination and exclusion of women.
What do you think?
Do you feel isolated and anxious?
Is your doctor doing enough to help you manage depression?
(h/t: New York Times)
