Why are women more likely to be depressed?
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Recent studies show an association between depression and middle age. Is the sadness the expression of a mid-life crisis?
Ulrich Hegerl: Depression as a serious illness is about the same in all stages of life. It may be that depressed moods become more prevalent in old age as people deal with aging - especially in women when children leave home. But a real depression in the medical sense is not. Anyone who has ever had one knows this: one suffers as never before in his life. This is something completely different than when the mood is in the basement.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Around four million Germans suffer from depression. According to statistics, women are about twice as likely as men. Why?
Ulrich Hegerl: That's not easy to say. The hormones seem to have some influence, especially the greater fluctuations in hormone levels. Genetic and environmental factors can also play a role. In addition, women are more willing to talk about negative emotions and so depressive illnesses are more commonly recognized.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: Can it also be because women are burdened with children and work twice?
Ulrich Hegerl: There is no scientific evidence that women with double exposure are more likely to suffer from depression. In general, the relationship between stress and depression is complicated. Often, depression occurs in phases of life in which the external burden is rather low. In a depression, however, even the smallest tasks are already experienced as a great stress. Depression changes a person quite massively. Behind it is a strong suffering, combined with hopelessness and the inability to feel themselves.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde-woman.de: How big is the chance of recovery?
Ulrich Hegerl: We can help the vast majority of patients. In severe depression, antidepressants come first. In addition, psychotherapy is often urgently recommended, eg. As a so-called cognitive behavioral therapy. The antidepressants usually need to be taken over six months and longer. This can significantly reduce the risk of relapsing into a new episode of the disease.
Professor Ulrich Hegerl works as Director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry at the University of Leipzig. He is the initiator of the "Kompetenznetzes Depression" and board member of the "German Depressionshilfe Foundation"
