Depression In Her: Types, Symptoms, Causes, and Recovery

It is often said that human emotions, just like the pattern of heartbeat, follow a crooked line. It is never straight. For example, you cannot really feel happy and lively all the time. Sadness or feeling down is as much a part of human life as being excited. However, if you face severe hopelessness and despair that often tend towards being suicidal, chances are that you’re undergoing depression.

Given the contemporary fast-paced day and age, depression has tended to become very common. In fact, in the USA alone, nearly 17.3 million people get affected by this mental health condition in 2017 alone. However, what’s more worrisome is that majority of these people are women. And since we don’t really adjudge mental health and a part of overall fitness yet, near two-thirds of the cases go unacknowledged.

In today’s article, we shall talk about depression – its types and everything that you might want to know about this mental health condition. 

What Is Clinical Depression And Its Various Types?

Clinical depression is an austere mood disorder, which causes a flurry of emotions ranging from hopelessness, worthlessness, sadness, and helplessness. It is just not about feeling low but feeling incapable or unworthy enough to do a certain thing. 

Depression can be mild, moderate, or severe, and it is always better to seek medical help if you’re experiencing such harsh moods clubbed with sleeplessness and lethargy for more than two weeks.

Before we proceed further, it must be remembered that there are as many as nine different types of clinical depression – major depression, depressive psychosis, persistent depression, prenatal depression, bipolar disorder, situational depression, premenstrual diasporic disorder, atypical depression, and seasonal depression. 

Hence, clinical treatments vary accordingly. However, the initial symptoms of depression are similar, and we shall discuss this mental health disorder under the broad category of “clinical depression” here.

What Are The Most Common Symptoms Of Depression In Women?

Depression can hit a person in more ways than one can imagine. However, here we have charted 10 most common symptoms of depression in women. 

Take a look –

1. Feeling of despair and helplessness – a sense of being alone in the world with no one talk to. Sometimes you may also start crying without any trigger.
2. A lethargy in doing even the daily activities – the list includes performing your favorite hobby or even having sex.
3. Appetite changes – either significant weight loss or gain (about 5 percent in a month) without going for any exercise or diet changes.
4. Changes in sleep pattern – you’re either sleeping more than usual or wake up at uncertain hours in the morning or at night. You might even develop insomnia.
5. Stark mood swings – at one point of time you’re showing signs of irritability or restlessness, while immediately afterward, you feel angry – to the extent of being violent.
6. Feeling sluggish and tired always – you’re even tired to perform the daily chores – your body may feel heavy and you may take much more time to finish off a task than usual.
7. Increased physical complaints – along with being tired, you experience headaches, back pains, and pain in other parts of the body, including the stomach.
8. Have an increased concentration issue – the mind diverts always, and you suddenly feel incapable of concentrating on the thing at hand – be it preparing a professional report or even concentrating on the movie you’re watching.
9. Self-detestation – you start hating yourself, feeling an uncanny burden of worthlessness and guilt all the time.
10. Racing thoughts, showcasing suicidal tendencies – your self-resentment and loathing take a complete toll on you, to the extent of having thoughts of killing yourself.

Why Is Depression More Common In Women Than Men?

The results from researches conducted widely essentially pinpoint at one thing: females are twice as likely to be down with clinical depression as their male counterparts. However, most of these researches also conclude that the prime reason behind the prevalence of depression more in females than males has more to do with biological differences than with ethnicity, education, race, culture, and diet among other things.

Among the numerous risk factors that make women more susceptible to getting clinical depression are hormonal imbalances, history of abuse as a child, stressful life events (pregnancy can also delve a woman into depression), varied social roles, and socialization differences.

It is to be noted that apart from getting affected by depression more, depression in women also tends to last longer and recur more than their male counterparts.

Is Depression Hereditary?

Yes. Depression tends to run deep in the family. 

A person having a family history of mood disorders is more susceptible to getting clinical depression than one without any such history. 

In such cases, depression seeps in pretty early – between 15 to 30 years of age.

How Can Depression In Woman Be Treated?

Despite being recognized as a common health condition prevalent among women, clinical depression cannot be cured completely. According to experts, remission is the ultimate goal of the treatments. 

In short, there are numerous procedures (medication and therapies) that might go on to treat your condition and alleviate your symptoms, but since it is a mood disorder, there are chances of you falling back to it.

As a patient of depression, you have to understand what triggers your condition – once you know these triggers, the treatment becomes easier.

So, if you feel you are exercising certain symptoms of depression, and really need someone to talk to, please get in touch with a therapist or a psychiatrist as soon as possible. These are specially trained individuals, who are there to solve your issue and help you fight your inner demons. If you have any further questions on depression, please feel free to write us your queries.