Gender and Cultural Differences in Depression

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PSYCHOLOGY HL DISCUSS GENDER AND CULTURAL DIFFERENCES REGARDING A DYSFUNCTIONAL BEHAVIOR OF YOUR CHOICE. Depression is classified to be persistent low mood for at least two weeks, plus at least five of the following symptoms must be present. These include hypersomnia or insomnia, overeating and weight gain or loss of appetite and decrease in weight, agitation or slowing in movement, daily fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, inability to think or concentrate, loss of interest in activities that were once enjoyed and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide. The rates that people suffer from depression vary tremendously between the two sexes and from culture to culture, though. Women are more likely to suffer from depression and more specifically the number of women suffering from depression is noted to be 2-3 times higher than the number of men. One out of four women is experiencing or at least has experienced clinical depression. The risk factors can be divided into
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separate categories. To begin with, hormonal fluctuations associated with the menstrual cycle, menopause, or the uses of oral contraceptives are very usual for most women and can be main causes for depression. Similarly, most women who have experienced infertility or miscarriages are also very likely to experience the symptoms of depression. All those are hormonal and biological factors that women have little, almost no, control over. Furthermore, Cochrane pointed out, that girls are the main targets of sexual abuse and that almost 37% of women have experienced violent episodes like battering or rape in their lives. This leaves them with ...

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