"Depression's Double Standard"

I decided to do my reaction paper on the "Depression's Double Standard" that I found of interest to me. Many of my family have at one time or another have experienced a depressive state and I did not know the basis for the cause. I often thought they were making excuses to hide something or to get attention and affection.

This article focuses on a comparison between women and men, and their depressive states. Women are said to have depression during menstruation and menopause and no underlying facts link depression to their physical states. Hormones seem to be the likely link to women role in the onset of depression. Men, on the other hand is protected by testosterone, which promotes activity, protects men against depression.

So we're really nowhere fast. There are a variety of cues that seem to prompt depression. Sorting out which factors which might have a greater influence on women has not proven easy for scientists and researchers.

English: Managing emotions - Identifying feelings

English: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President ...

Figure 15 from Charles Darwin's The Expression of ...

It is said that both sexes have an equal chance of depression but women have a 50% higher chance than men. Why is this so? Brain activity levels are much different as revealed on a PET scan. Women's brain activities race with activity; whereas in the mans brain, activity is relatively calm. In women, the two parts of the brain that activates during depression over time could lead to hypoactivity seen there during the clinical depression.

This information is very interesting. I know that my family members who are female and experience depression have all their emotions being expressed in a rage. I guess this support a very active brain maybe because they are experiencing an influx in hormones and is putting their emotions in overdrive and cause conflict and depression. There bottling up of these emotions are...