Depression is the most common mental health disorder around the world, and it affects women significantly more than it does men. But why is this? The Life Stress Theory is one that suggests women are more likely to develop depression because of significant life events that cause undue stress and increase vulnerability to mental health disorders.
Depression in Women
Research indicates that women experience depression significantly higher than men. Women have many unique societal stressors or circumstances due to things like gender roles that are more likely to influence this high prevalence of depression.
Women are more likely to face societal pressures as well as interpersonal conflicts that relate to work and family roles as well as expectations within and out of the home.
So what do these circumstances have to do with depression?
Understanding Life Stress Theory and Development of Depression in Women
The Life Stress Theory is a theory that suggests the higher rates of depression in women are not limited to biological differences between men and women but instead extend to life circumstances.
Early life stress has been known to have lifelong consequences for men and women but women have to juggle the biological predisposition with things like higher risks of early life stress and ongoing stressful life events and social circumstances.
All of these risk factors increase the likelihood of developing depression.
Some examples include the following:
Body Image
Women are more likely to experience depression brought about by body image issues. These body image issues might relate to unique circumstances like pregnancy or childbirth, where women are at an increased risk of developing depression and may undergo significant depression not just because of hormonal fluctuations but because of societal expectations that a woman revert back to a pre-pregnancy body immediately.
Work-Life Balance
For women, it can be particularly difficult to find a work-life balance. Women are often the ones who are expected to excel when it comes to domestic activities in addition to any professional activities.
Despite movements toward women’s empowerment and a new wave of feminism, it is still expected that women keep a clean home while also raising their children well. As women work toward balancing a career with their home life, they can find it increasingly difficult to maintain this balance without criticism in one direction or the other.
A woman who invites family or friends over but her house is dirty might get subtle criticism from those friends or family or simply place that emotional guilt onto themselves. So that same woman might focus more on keeping the house clean as a result of these feelings but then get criticized for not working as hard as their husband or not contributing to the household as much.
Similar examples can apply to short-term stresses like hosting guests or having a dinner party. Despite a holiday party or vacation with visiting friends and family being a family decision, women are more likely to be the ones balancing work with cleaning the house and preparing guest rooms or creating menus and cooking. All of this can lead to a predisposition for depression because of these interpersonal stresses, societal expectations, and hormonal changes.
Caregiving
Tangentially, women are often expected to fulfill the role of caregiver regardless of any other attempts at a work life balance or any other responsibilities.
For example, when a child goes to school but ends up sick, it is more often the woman who picks up the child from school, leaving work early or taking time off to be with the sick child or take them to doctor’s appointments compared to the man.
Women are typically expected to take care not just of children but any other members of the family, including elderly family members. As such, when women have to bring another family member into the home like an aging parent or someone who has recently experienced an injury, they will likely experience the specific stress related to caregiving in this capacity.
Finding Treatment for Women with Casa Serena
If you are interested in the life stress theory and development of depression in women and particularly how you can find treatment as a woman, Casa Serena can help with our women’s depression residential treatment.
Our facility is a women’ s-only treatment center that offers residential and outpatient levels of care located just minutes from the beach. Our luxury treatment center is owned by women and operated by women, so it creates a safe, caring environment where women can build a foundation for growth and peer support with a better understanding of trauma and the relationship between lifestyle stress theory and the development of depression in women.
We aim to create a supportive environment that allows all of our female clients to learn how to love themselves, how to find the right type of balance between work, life obligations, family, and self-care.
To learn more about life stress theory and the development of depression in women or to get help today, call our team at 866- 590-8601.