Every woman gets “down” occasionally. But if your blue mood is lasting longer than a few days or is very intense, you might be dealing with depression.

Depression is not a “normal” part of being a woman.

It’s not a “normal” part of your monthly cycle, or menopause, or aging, or having a baby. Consider these statistics:

• Approximately 12 million women in the United States experience clinical depression each year.
• About one in every eight women can expect to develop clinical depression during their lifetime.
• Depression occurs most frequently in women aged 25-44.
• Women experience depression at roughly twice the rate of men.
• Girls 14-18 years of age have consistently higher rates of depression than boys in this age group.
• 20–40% of women may experience premenstrual syndrome and an estimated 3–5% have symptoms severe enough to be classified as Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (see more about this below).
• Married women have a lower rate of depression than those living alone. However, unhappily married women have the highest rates of depression; happily married men have the lowest rates.
• Approximately 10%-15% of all new mothers get postpartum depression, which most frequently occurs within the first year after the birth of a child (see more about this below).
• Research shows a strong relationship between eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia nervosa) and depression in women. About 90-95% of cases of anorexia occur in young females. Reported rates of bulimia nervosa vary from one to three out of 100 people.
• Research shows that one out of three depressed people also suffers from some form of substance abuse or dependence.
• Although men are more likely than women to die by suicide, women report attempting suicide approximately twice as often as men.
• An estimated 15% of people hospitalized for depression eventually take their own lives.
• Depression in women is misdiagnosed approximately 30–50% of the time.
• Fewer than half of the women who experience clinical depression will ever seek care.

There are many things you can do to help yourself if you are depressed. Fortunately, all types of depression are very treatable. More than 80 percent of people with depression can be treated successfully with medication, psychotherapy or a combination of both. For more information, check out the National Institute of Mental Health.

Stay tuned for the second post of this series, in which we will discuss common symptoms of depression in women.

Stacey Wald, LPC, RD
Swald @ growcounsleing.com