Depression in women

Emboss

first off i'm not a woman

I'm not a big fan of Gerry Ryan, But I was driving home from Kerry last week listening to the show and it was covering a study that was carried out in various european countries on depression.

I was astonished to hear that in dublin city 1 in 3 women suffer from depression compared with i think it was 1 in 10 in rural parts of Ireland, this worked out very closley with say london and devon in the UK, other countries I think was Finland and norway where depression was very low and didn't change from city to rural areas,

Any thoughts on why it's so high in women and why it changes from city to rural areas ?

Emboss

Amz

I would imagine it has something to do with the pace of life in the city and how it varies. City life would presumably be more hectic, fast paced and therefore more stressful.

I'd be interested to know what type of depression is most common amongst these women.

Emboss

Originally posted by Amz
I would imagine it has something to do with the pace of life in the city and how it varies. City life would presumably be more hectic, fast paced and therefore more stressful.

I'd be interested to know what type of depression is most common amongst these women.

I was thinking the same but surley big cities in finland and norway are fairly high paced/stressful but there was no change in these countries from city to rural and depression in general in these countries was practically non existant compared to the uk and ireland,

for the survery anything from mild to manic was taken into account mild was most common, one of the reasons was women trying to juggle a famliy and a job, but surley women in rural areas do the same ?

Amz

I think perhaps in urban areas there is less support available to women. I think there is more of a community ethos in rural areas where people are more willing to help out or even look for help if they need it. In urban areas people tend to keep to themselves, remain independent and self reliant.

As a result if/when things become too much there are very few options for women, particularly if they're trying to work, raise a family, keep a home and pay child minders etc

If the woman becomes ill the jobs she carries out are left undone, the home becomes a lot more disorderly seriously adding to her stresses etc.

I'm not suggesting that men don't have similar stresses but it is primarily the mother who takes care of the house keeping etc.

Many women are unprepared for stresses and strains that accompany the rearing of children or family life in general and often find it difficult to seek support and become more and more isolated and thus depression can become a major problem n their lives. Particularly if many of their peers have not yet "settled down" and are continuing to live life unattatched and without the added responsibilities.

I know from speaking to relatives living in the country that although they may not live in such close proximity to their neighbours their support network of other family members, friends and neighbours is much stronger and that they know there is always someone willing to give a hand if things become too much or they just need a break.

I'm not too familiar with life in Finland or Norway so wouldn't like to assume why their depression statistics are so much lower. I would imagine it has something to do with their pace of life or family structure or the way the communities deal with such things.

mavedic

The standard of living is far better in countries like finland than it is here - can you blame anybody for being depressed when you have to pay the prices you have here in dublin and all you get in return is Dublin with all its problems?

The difference between rural and urban would be the pace of life and the stress i would have thought. I'm from kerry and I know that it always lifts my spirits to go down there and get away from the city life...

Emboss

Points taken, but does this really bring on the actuall disease ? I mean we have alot of famous people battling depression, with a great standard of living all the money they could ever want,

if it's an embalance in the brain i can't see how these factors come into play, but I know very little about depression.

in dream world, if we took 10,000 finish people and dropped them in dublin city, and 10,000 people from dublin in finland, would we see a differene ? would we see depression devlop on the finnish side ? would the dublin people suddenly start to see the light ? would be an intresting study

mavedic

i suppose it shows that money can't buy you happiness!
people living in urban areas would generally have a lot more money and material goods than people living in rural areas.

Doesn't explain the scandinavian countries though.

Typedef

Originally posted by Amz
I would imagine it has something to do with the pace of life in the city and how it varies. City life would presumably be more hectic, fast paced and therefore more stressful.

Strangely enough... I sort of like all that urban (pace) faf.

Then again I do, come from an inner city (area of urban renewal)*.

Perhaps, it's all the binge drinking coupled with the 'hostility' of Dublin as a place in general.

I have for example, been in cities bigger then Dublin, (like Vancouver) where the general 'vibe' of the city is much more friendly, unlike the big smoke, where people seem to get off on being assholes to each other.

I know I do.




*ghetto

smiles

This is more a humanities discussion than a personal issue.

<< Fio >>

Victor

Originally posted by Emboss
Any thoughts on why it's so high in women and why it changes from city to rural areas ?

It could be that it is just underreported in rural areas. Women are more prone, why I don't know.

Some people are geneticly predisposed to depression.

simu

Does anybody know the methodology used by these researchers? Sometimes, the way questions are asked influences the answers greatly. Is it based on interviews with a representative sample of women or on statistics from doctors/psychologists?

Sparks

Any thoughts on why it's so high in women

So have you actually looked at average Irish men recently then?

Victor

Originally posted by simu
Does anybody know the methodology used by these researchers? Sometimes, the way questions are asked influences the answers greatly. Is it based on interviews with a representative sample of women or on statistics from doctors/psychologists?

Unfortunately depression isn't one of the situations where diagnosis is easy - it's not like a broken arm or an infection. To a degree it is subjective and depends on you having 5 of 9 symptoms (including one of two primary symptoms) for 2 weeks or more. Consequently, yes, in diagnosing and documenting cases, one has to be quite careful. I would assume they take some of the fuzzy factors into account.

Nevyn

Once you become the Lady of the house you are taking on a hell of a lot more then you ever imagined.

In most cases you will end up doing at least 70% off all household chores if not more and that is before you have kids.

If you have kids and are at home with them you can go fecking nuts for an adult converstaion and then He comes home from work tired and does want to talk at all.

In the usa in the 50s doc used to prescribe engery tablets to house wifes,
they were E tabs and i'm telling you there are days i can see why they need them

As Jack Nickloson say in the Witches of Eastwick , " you have to what go home and cook dinner and then what it just gets eaten , clean the dishes they'll just get dirty again "

the routine of keeping a house running in damned motonious and neverending and often thankless.

And if you have children you never ever have every room tidy at once unless you dont sleep and the later have a nervous breakdown.

So you give nearly everything to the kids and to keep the house from falling apart and then get told " well I dont want to take the kids to the park so you can have a break I work all day, your just here at home with the kids. "

And then on top of all of that crap your ment to look like a model !!!

See it is only an issue now that doctors cant hand out prozac and other tranqs like smarties.

Sparks

Yup. Want to know what the most useful piece of technology is in the Star Trek universe? The replicator. 'Cos with that, you could actually have a house and get something done during the day...
Hell, sometimes I just want to live off those weightwatchers microwave meals just to avoid creating lots of pots and pans to wash up...

pro_gnostic_8

Originally posted by Emboss
first off i'm not a woman


I was astonished to hear that in dublin city 1 in 3 women suffer from depression compared with i think it was 1 in 10 in rural parts of Ireland,

Emboss

Oh God, no!
This is not a geographical phenonemon. It's a gender-speciific thing. Whinging, whining, and bitching is the trade-mark of persons of the female persuasion............ not only in the Dublin/Irish context, but globally.:(

I married one of 'em once upon a time -- she wouldn't know fun if it jumped up and bit her on the nose.

pro_gnostic_8

Sorry...... yes........typo error above should read PHENOMENON

Victor

Originally posted by Thaed
And if you have children you never ever have every room tidy at once unless you dont sleep and the later have a nervous breakdown.

My sister solved this - get me to order the kids to tidy the dining / play room while she's at work.

simu

I wonder if they had data on whether women with children had higher depression rates then?
Many of these studies are just used by the media to fill space IMO and they don't provide enough information.
I always thought that depression was not the same as feeling stressed after a hard day's work or frustrated with one's kids - that it was rather a persistent feeling of apathy and the inability to think positively.
Most kids can get extremely annoying at times but some personality types seem to deal with it better than others, no?

Victor

Originally posted by simu
I always thought that depression was not the same as feeling stressed after a hard day's work or frustrated with one's kids -

Said stress can lead to depression.

Originally posted by simu
that it was rather a persistent feeling of apathy and the inability to think positively.

Yes, it is a prolonged thing. Most people feel depressed at some part of the day / week / year, it is only considered clinical depression when it is prolonged.