Love Beats Depression for Women, Not Men

[Q.]

Love Beats Depression for Women, Not Men

Relationships study found big gender differences

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Love may banish the blues for women more easily than for men, according to a new study.

Supportive, loving relationships offer women protection against major depression but don't seem to play a role in male depression, say researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In their study of 1,000 pairs of adult, opposite-sex, fraternal twins, the Virginia team found that the female twins were more apt to fall into depression if they felt they received low levels of emotional support from spouses, parents and other relatives, compared to their brothers.

"In women, social support was a robust predictor of risk for depression," study lead author Dr. Kenneth S. Kendler, a professor of psychiatry and human genetics, said in a prepared statement. "Women who saw themselves as more loved and cared for and objectively well integrated in positive social groups were well protected against later episodes of major depression," he added.

"However, among the men we found virtually no effect. In this large sample, we could find no relationship in men between their levels of social support and their risk for depression. These findings suggest that men may be more 'immune' or less sensitive to aspects of their social environment with respect to their risk for depression," Kendler said.

The study appears in the February issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The findings suggest there are important differences between women and men in the factors leading to depression. According to Kendler, research suggests women tend to look for contentment in inter-personal relationships, whereas men are less likely to do so.

That doesn't mean men are always happy on their own, however. "While the impact of low social support on risk for major depression appears to be less pronounced in men than in women, males may be more sensitive to the adverse health effects of social isolation than are females," Kendler said.

More information

The National Institute of Mental Health has more on depression (www.nimh.nih.gov ).

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: Virginia Commonwealth University, news release, Feb. 1, 2005

Copyright © 2005 ScoutNews LLC. All rights reserved.

Last updated 2/9/2005.

This article can be accessed directly at:
http://www.healthscout.com/news/197/523794/main.html

[Phaedrus49er]

"However, among the men we found virtually no effect. In this large sample, we could find no relationship in men between their levels of social support and their risk for depression. These findings suggest that men may be more 'immune' or less sensitive to aspects of their social environment with respect to their risk for depression," Kendler said.

In other words, we just don't put up with all the societal BS that women put themselves through [img]smile.gif[/img] Good article, though. I can attest to its validity.

[Ruma]

Yup right Q. You did not need research article for this though [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Q.]

I just read an article in Scientific American that was discussing the differences in the male and female brain. Good article but the point that stuck out with me related to this thread was that they stated that depression and anxiety are more common in women and somehow related to the naturally lower levels of serotonin in females. Guess we need to show more love to the ladies to ovecome this! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[TrainingGirl]

yes...show us some love!! we crave it. i completely see that women are affected by this. if i'm not feeling loved, i go into a sort of depressive state.

In other words, we just don't put up with all the societal BS that women put themselves through

Why do we do this? As a woman, I don't even think I can answer it...we worry about things that men couldn't give a crap about. I have actually learned, over the past 2 years or so, to not care as much. I still have issues with it, but I have come a long way. And it's hard work to change this kind of thinking...I have to actually take every situation I am in and work on changing my thinking. Hard work but worth it. I don't worry half as much as I used to.

But now my question is...how do we go about helping men that are depressed. If loving them and having them surrounded by friends doesn't help, then what is one to do?

[Q.]

I didn't specify this before but I was reading the SciAm article on a plane coming back from Cozumel. I "loaned" it to my son to read for a while and asked for it back so I could read the male/female brain thing again... but, as usual, I didn't get it back. Anyway, there seems to be lots of evidence that there are very real differences in how we're hardwired.

This is a totally different topic but, for example, we've speculated for years that we develop into our gender roles based on how we're raised so a make raised as a girl would like girl things and vice versa. One study they discussed was about researchers who put masculine toys (trucks, balls, etc) and feminine toys (dolls, ?) in cages with young male and female monkeys. Guess what? The male monkeys still picked the trucks and the female monkeys still picked the dolls! So, there's apparently some evolutionary basis for why we behave the way we behave and it makes sense, at least on a superficial level. Females are preparing to nurture young and males are preparing to hunt and fight (= throw things).

So, back to the topic of depression, this further supports the notion of taking different approaches to males and females to treat problems like depression. Whereas women (and I realize we're making gross generalizations) tend to like that social support, I guess it might help to figure out what the comparable condition might be for guys. Personally, I've never really had a big problem with depression - at least never very long lasting - but, when I did, I found that doing something for someone else and shifting the focus away from me always did the trick. I also tended to want to be alone to try to "solve the problem." I realize that could be the worst thing for some people but I think guys can be stereotyped to wanting to "fix" things, often by themselves (that's why I have to have my own private space at home... my "cave"). I know it drives me nuts when my wife and I are discussing a problem and I want to clearly define it and then map the quickest, most direct solution that addresses the specific problem whereas she wants to talk about all the distantly related issues that may/may not someday come into play (she's also a PhD so maybe that's part of the problem ). Sad to say, maybe the solution with guys is simply to go F*&% or kill something... hormones have a huge influence here, too.

Anyway, interesting topic!

[groovergrl23]

I agree! Show teh ladies more love....it's okay for you guys be sensitive to our feeelings