Common Symptoms of Depression in Women That Shouldn’t be Ignored

Clinical depression is a serious mood disorder whose levels can range from mild to moderate. It may cause severe symptoms that can affect your lifestyle, the way you feel, what you think, and even basic activities like sleeping, thinking, and eating. Major cases of depression are chronic. Moreover, studies show that depression prevails more in women than men in some cases due to fluctuations in hormones during various phases of life – mostly during puberty. However, the underlying problem still remains incomprehensible and depression is often correlated to hormonal changes. Some researchers state that hormonal fluctuation caused by a woman’s menstrual cycle contributes to premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) which are marked by anxiety, depression, and mood swings that occur before menstruation. Read on to understand all the factors related to the symptoms of depression in women.

Signs of Depression in Women 

Although depression can happen to anyone, women are vulnerable to it at twice the rate that men are. And even though depression mostly occurs once in your lifetime, people do experience multiple episodes. Women also experience depression differently than men do. Some common symptoms of depression in women are:

1. Feelings of tearfulness, sadness, hopelessness, or emptiness
2. Irritability, frustration, and angry outbursts even over minute matters
3. Loss of interest in mundane activities like sports, hobbies, etc. 
4. Insomnia, sleep disturbances, or sleeping too much
5. Lack of energy, tiredness, and restlessness
6. Agitation and anxiety
7. Slowed body movements, thinking, and speaking
8. Guilt, self-blame, feeling worthless, and fixating on past failures
9. Finding trouble concentrating, having trouble thinking, making decisions, and having trouble remembering
10. Recurrence of obsessive thoughts that may include issues of suicide attempts, death, and suicidal thoughts 
11. Unexplained physical problems, such as headaches or back pain 

Having mentioned the symptoms of depression, it is important not to discard them as a ‘weakness’ or something that you can “snap out of” easily. It is advisable to see a psychotherapist as they can diagnose you correctly. Symptoms of depression are mostly serious enough that may be noticed in your day-to-day activities such as in your personal life and social relationships. 

Risk Factors Related to Depression in Women

Factors that seem to trigger depression or increase the risk are:

1. Traumatic events or events that impact a person deeply such as the death of a loved one, bad relationship, sexual or physical abuse, bullying, or financial problems
2. Abuse of recreational drugs or alcohol
3. Personality traits of low self-esteem, being pessimistic or too self-critical about oneself
4. Chronic illness 
5. Particular medicines can also become triggers such as long term use of sleeping pills or high blood pressure medicines in a susceptible person. 

Complications of Depression 

If it is not treated or consulted with a psychotherapist at the right time, your depression can take a terrible turn or can even get worse. You may experience behavioural and health issues, emotional imbalance, and situations that affect every area of your life. Some examples of complications that are associated with depression in women include:

1. Obesity and heavyweight which can lead to heart diseases and/ or diabetes 
2. Physical illness
3. Misuse of drugs or alcohol
4. Panic disorder, social phobia, or anxiety 
5. Obsessive thoughts, suicide attempts, or even thoughts of suicide

Prevention of Depression

There is no sure short route to “prevent” depression. However, as it is said that prevention is better than cure, here are some steps that you can take:

1. Take necessary steps to control stress in order to boost your self-esteem and become resilient. 
2. You can reach out to your loved ones, especially when you feel at your lowest. You should trust someone to get you out of rough weather spells. 
3. You must visit, get help, or visit a doctor as soon as you notice the earliest signs of depression. This can help you in preventing depression from worsening.
4. Instead of going to consulting therapists only when you feel low, you must consider getting long-term treatments for your maintenance. This may help a relapse of symptoms of depression. 

Conclusion 

It is advisable to visit a mental health professional if you notice symptoms of depression. It is important to talk about this to a loved one, a healthcare professional or someone you trust. And if you often get obsessive thoughts and think you may hurt yourself then you must call your emergency hotline number immediately. As mentioned above, females are more prone to depression. So, if you can observe the symptoms of depression in women around you, don’t think twice before extending a helping hand.