Women are emotionally outlook towards various aspects of life than men. The treatment may vary depending on the degree of depression in an individual.
Also, it has to be understood that depression is not just about one or two symptoms. It is a combination of few of them and that too for an unusually long period of time. For example, I discovered my friend being in grief after a loss in love, she could not stop thinking of the relationship, the loss, the guy and her life during that period. She got her marriage fixed, but eventually it was called off because the pain of her loss was clearly evident on her face. Her fiancé called up the relation before it could harm him. It was at this point that I feared she was in trouble. This incident took place two years after her love-loss. After this it continued for many more years. Try and identify such signs as early as possible and reach out for treatment.
Symptoms of Depression in Women
Not all women will have similar symptoms of depression. Some might have only a few, while others may have numerous. It is advisable to seek medical consultation if you experience one or more of the following symptoms of depression for more than four weeks or months at a time, these may be:
- Continuously feeling gloomy, apprehensive, or “empty”
- Feeling miserable
- Being annoyed, perturbed or enraged easily
- Losing interest in hobbies and other enjoyable habits
- Reduced energy level
- Rash thoughts of death or suicide
- Difficulty in focusing, remembering and making decisions, some people even stammer a lot
- Loss of appetite resulting in weight-loss or increase in appetite resulting in weight-gain
- Insomnia – lack of sleep, tossing and turning all night or oversleeping, not wanting to get up.
- Persistent headaches, upset stomach, and back pain that just does not go away.
While researching about depression, I came across some useful stats published by National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH):
- One in every four women will go through severe depression at least once in their life.
- Depression affects twice as many women as men
- Depression is the primary cause of disability in women
- Married women experience depression more than single women
- Depression is common among young mothers who stay at home and look after their small children
- Sexually and physically abused women are at much greater risk of depression
- There is a strong relationship between eating disorders and depression, 90 percent of all cases of eating disorders occur in women
- Women attempt suicide twice as often as men do, but the success rate is lower than that of men, reason being men adopt more lethal ways of suicide which do not fail
- Only 20% of women who fail, seek medical treatment for depression
It is normal to feel low or sad or disgusted in your daily life. There may be several reasons contributing to it such as heavy workloads, family problems, ailments or financial issues. Normally, these feelings do not last long. But when they do, it is an indication that what seemed to be a temporary mood may have become a clinical illness. That’s why it is highly advisable that if you are experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned, you should seek medical consultation.