What’s Behind the “Depression Gap” Impacting Women?
The list of gender gaps is sufficiently long and distressing. Disparities in pay, employment, and housework are well-documented — but did you know that women are twice as likely as men to suffer from depression?According to the CDC, Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) affects 11% of women as opposed to 6% of men.
This significant and persistent disparity has been called the “depression gap,” and experts know that rectifying it begins with understanding its causes.“Women get depressed much more frequently than men do,” explained William Dodson, M.D., LF-APA, in his ADDitude webinar titled “Managing Mood Disorders and Depression in ADHD Adults and Kids.” “At first, it was thought that women just went to see psychiatrists more easily than men.
Now, thanks to very large population studies, we know that women really do have depression more often and they also seem to have bipolar disorder more often.”Increased rates of depression in women may be of particular concern to the ADHD community, where depression is far more common.
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