Effects of Depression on Women
Discuss about the Depression in Women.
Depression is a chronic illness that is most common in women more than men because in women depression presents internalized symptoms while in men the symptoms are externalized. Moreover, women experience various depression-related diseases which may include postpartum depression, dysphoric disorder, and postmenopausal depression. The postmenopausal depression is mostly caused by changes in the ovarian hormones though there is no apparent relation why this depression occurs. The symptoms that most women face with depression are the loss of interest in pleasurable activities, restlessness, weight loss or weight gain, suicidal thoughts, and fatigue. Furthermore, depression is also the leading cause of domestic violence in women which may lead to physical and mental health challenges (Bohra, 2015). Also, depression affects the life of the women including their family life, social life, work life, and health. Most of the women who have depression have a hard time relating with their loved ones and even causing isolation to the women who are affected with the condition. Despite that, the social determinants that influenced the cause of depression in these women include unemployment and inequality in job positions. However, some steps are being made to ensure that the situation of these women improves and acquire a healthy life.
- Family Life
According to Tracy (2018), some women who affected by depression may find it difficult to communicate with their loved ones which may create a misunderstanding between her and her loved ones. It is because some loved ones may fail to understand the seriousness and complexity of depression and the state of helplessness the woman may be. It is essential to note that depression makes women withdraw from their family life and she may stop engaging in the everyday functioning of the family. Often, this results in the children and other family members feeling rejected, and even the intimacy that the woman had with her husband may end resulting in physical conflict and constant arguments. The lack of privacy may lead the couple to seek a divorce because there is lack of understanding and transparency within the family due to the depression the woman may be experiencing.
- Social Life
Depression often causes women to lack interest in the social activities that they used to enjoy and feel pleased. Most of the time the women who have depression begin to isolate themselves from their friends and avoid getting in touch with them. Hence, they start being lonely and spend most of their time at home and start abandoning their hygiene because they rarely go out in public. The state of being lonely may result in some of these women engaging in illegal drug use or alcoholism because they cannot take charge of their emotions leading to an unhealthy lifestyle.
- Work Life
Social Determinants of Depression in Women
Most women who suffer from depression are often tired and lose energy which prevents them from doing their best in their various workplace. According to Tracy (2018), most women have poor concentration, slow decision makers and rarely motivated and these affect their performance and how they relate to their colleagues at their workplace. Furthermore, depression may cause insomnia which leaves them restless and also the women have low immunity which makes them prone to diseases.
- Health
Depression may cause appetite change to women which causes some women to either gain weight or loss leading to malnutrition. Hence, some of the women depressed women are obese which puts them at high risk of developing diabetes and hypertension. Moreover, depressed women who have low concentration levels may have difficulty in keeping up with medication schedules which are essential for their treatment. It is crucial that women who are affected seek medical attention because depression worsens with time and it may lead to psychological issues.
- Gender Inequality and Unemployment
According to Strandh (2013), gender inequality in employment opportunities may sometime cause depression in women. It is because the unemployment causes women to feel limited due to the risk of living a poverty life because they have nothing to sustain their daily needs. The difference in the positions at a workplace may result in economic differences that may sometimes be psychological to the women leading to depression. Furthermore, the gender roles that the men and women play in the labor market may be different giving each gender different levels of influence when it comes to marketing and research. The reason for this is that most view the female gender as less connected with employment; thus they tend to earn less than their male. It often results in the women getting devastated leading to depression. Therefore, the continuous gender implications in unemployment and job position may lead to gendered mental health issues on the women (Strandh, 2013).
- Poor Housing
According to Borreli (2013), poor housing quality was found to be the most probable cause of depression and aggressive behavior to women. Furthermore, the housing that a woman may be dwelling in may not be suitable for productive health because when the house is smoky due to cigarette smoking, the women may get into depression due to fear of respiratory diseases. Moreover, poor housing causes a low-socioeconomic life due to poor sanitation of the premises which gets women depressed because of the antisocial behaviors they get due to loneliness. Also, the housing costs adverse depression in women because some women may not be able to afford a right house which forces them to live in the poorly furnished apartment. It can be depressing to women because they cannot provide suitable housing and this results in an antisocial life that leads to depression (Borreli, 2013).
- Poor Maternal Care
Some of the women face maternal depression which affects mostly mothers and mothers-to-be due to fatigue which creates the loss of interest in daily activities that the women used to engage. It mostly happens when the women have no access to better maternal care facilities due to lack of capital or inadequate facilities which leads to depression in some of the women. Moreover, when the women cannot cater for their newborn babies by providing them basic needs, it sometimes depressing leading to depression in the new mothers (Nyseth, 2015). Furthermore, some of the women lack medical covers which are essential for the good maternal care, and this leads to depressed mothers because it is expensive to cater for the medical expenses if one does not get covered. According to Wagner (2016), some newborns had gotten exposed to childhood, emotional, physical and sexual abuse and the newborns of the mothers who experienced childhood abuse were at a high rate of getting depression.
- Education
Higher education sometimes causes depression in women because they are focused on fulfilling their needs in having a good career so that they may get good wages. Such demanding jobs put women in a state where they have to overwork to attain the good grades which are sometimes depressing. Moreover, when women attend colleges as those who are from less privileged backgrounds tend to have a lack of sense of mastery and self-efficiency due to depression and pressure due to their environments (Bauldry, 2015).
- Poverty
Poverty sometimes leads to depression in women in that they may indulge in illegal drug activities or prostitution to maintain a fit lifestyle. It leads to depression because some women indulge in prostitution because they do not have an alternative means of earning money. Frustration and suffering may cause distress to women because sometimes the women are unable to cater for the basic needs of their children.
- Food Insecurity
According to Maselko (2018), the presence of food insecurity is a sign of poverty which raises depression symptoms when the women cannot provide for their children. Moreover, lack of food security lowers the level of the necessities that are available in the family, and this leads to depression in women due to psychological stress. Furthermore, it is depressing and heartbreaking when a mother cannot provide for her kids, and this leads to depression in such women because they do not have a reliable means of ensuring they can provide basic needs to their children (Maselko, 2018).
- Debt
Some women get depressed when they are under obligation and have difficulty in repaying the loans which result in such women getting depressed. Furthermore, the poor functioning of the credit markets may mean that having debts can psychological stress which may be depressing to some women (Maselko, 2018). For instance, even low-interest loans in South Africa can lead to high levels of stress in women especially those who are receiving new loans.
- Early Childhood Depression
According to Wagner (2016), women who experience depression may sometimes have acquired these condition during the early stages of their childhood life. Some of the depressed women earned depression due to childhood trauma and suicidal thoughts. It is because these women may be experienced physical abuse when they were in their childhood. This kind of misery on women would lead to substance abuse due to trauma from the physical abuse they suffered when they were kids. Moreover, the shock may result in these depressed women having suicidal thoughts due to what they experienced in their early childhood. Furthermore, childhood bullying was another cause of depression in women because bullying exposed these women to depression disorders in their adulthood. Therefore, the higher the rate of the childhood bullying the more the probability that it would create a severe depression condition in adulthood.
- Neighborhood Environment
Some women came from neighborhoods that were unstable due to insecurity reasons and deep social integrations which resulted in depression in these women. Furthermore, the neighborhood instability resulted in the reduced psychological well-being of the residents. Therefore, the uncertainty in the neighborhoods was not only physically abusive but also mental which resulted in depression in some women (Miles, 2012).
- The Canadian Immigration Citizenship
Most immigrant women are discriminated continuously in their position of work, and they have a tough time in doing the job at the premises they are employed. The Canadian Immigration Citizenship places sponsorship on the immigrant women such that they get put independent positions in the labor force. Furthermore, they get government benefits and services which help them coup with the medical condition. Moreover, some women faced racial discrimination that was depressing because most of the women got denied their basic needs. It has resulted in the high unemployment of these immigrant women, increased poverty level, and underemployment. Furthermore, the women faced wage discrimination which was depressing because many of the women were living in pathetic health conditions (Liang, 2012). These cases have gotten reported to the Canadian Immigration Citizenship who are making arrangements on how they may improve the conditions of the immigrant women.
- Community-Wide Campaigns
There has been a wide spread of community campaigns which are focused on providing the community of women affected by depression. For instance, the community-based approach was used to promote physical activity which has developed and delivered culturally appropriate PA programs for the Aboriginal women. Other interventions used were church-based organizations which provide supportive health promotions that help women with depression (Ball, 2015).
- Better Housing
According to Himmelstein (2018), the shelter is considered a basic need which is sometimes psychological if it is not provided hence preventing environmental harm. The Healthy People 2020 Initiative was set up to create economic stability and education for the women who had mental illness due to depression. Furthermore, the social and community were able to get better housing and built environment, and this removed the cost burden on the depressed women. Therefore, the women were able to afford food, transport, and some basic medical care expenses. Furthermore, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has helped to house of the depressed women who generally improves the hygiene of these women.
- Governance and Partnership Approaches
The UPMC Health Plan has partnered with the Us Department of Housing to ensure that depressed women get permanent supportive housing which also got assigned to medical homes to cater for the depressed women. Moreover, the care coordination has helped in delivering cost-efficient services that are entitled to registered members. Therefore, healthcare services are affordable to these depressed women who enhance their recovery. Furthermore, the examination of antenatal depression screens has enabled the treatment of depression in pregnant women at family health clinics due to the partnerships that the government has put forward (Doyle, 2017).
- Appointment of Health Practitioners
The Mental Health practitioners are responsible for identifying the negative implications of mental health illnesses and depression in women. The psychological health practitioners pay close attention to the pre-immigration and post-immigration experiences that the immigrant women go through. Also, the mental health practitioners influence the experiences that the women with depression go through. Moreover, the practitioners monitor how the immigrant women are coping with their new environment and finding safe and better ways to improve their delivery of mental health services (Delara, 2016). For instance, they educate the depressed immigrant women that their healthcare is essential and that it has no effect on their citizen application.
- Education
When the mental health practitioners were given proper training and experience, they can address the different needs that the diverse population of depressed immigrant women faces. Furthermore, the Administrators of educational systems are required to assign resources that will enable change and education on the members of the organization.
- Achieving Health Equity and Creating Beneficial Policies
The government has provided improved health care equity for the mentally ill immigrant women by delivering appropriate funds and resources. It got enabled by the government creating job training programs and migrant friendly services which improve the depression management services by the mental health practitioners. Moreover, the immigration policies should be amended to address the gender issues that the depressed immigrant women face. The current systems acknowledge the potential by immigrant women and their ability to contribute to the economy and providing them with excellent employment opportunities. Furthermore, the depressed immigrant women are encouraged to participate in policy development which promotes mental health improvement. These policies got created during promotional activities with partnerships with nonprofit organizations and stakeholders who lead in mental health improvement. Also, the psychological health promotions are focused on strengthening the social ties that the depressed immigrant women have with an aim to enhance their healthcare provision and a sense of belonging (Delara, 2016).
- Socioeconomic Status
According to Daniel (2018), some of the socioeconomic statuses may be assessed by education where higher education got associated with better outcomes in the economy. Furthermore, occupation may also provide the financial benefit which would expand social networks. It provides the women with depression the ability to engage in socio-economic activities which most knowledge can get acquired from higher education. Moreover, socioeconomic status also gets associated with racial factors that the depressed women face and this has enabled the income gap to decrease.
- Research on the Depressed Immigrant Women
According to Delara (2016), in spite of the intense research on the depressed immigrant women, there still exists a gap in the health perception of the immigrant women. It is because these depressed women are affected differently depending on their age group difference, the addictions, and trauma that these women go through. Therefore, the depression and mental health needs of the immigrant women need to get prioritized; this is because this forms transparency in what may be affecting them. Furthermore, the U.S Government has used the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to ensure proper survey is done one the immigrant women from Mexico by enforcing customs friendly policies that give the depressed Mexican women immigrant a sense of belonging just like any ordinary American citizen (Morales, 2017).
Conclusion
Depression is one of the most common conditions that women experience because they are more prone to abuse compared to the men. Furthermore, the article details how depression in women affects their daily life, and how they relate to people who they used to care about especially loved ones. Moreover, depression may lead to physical conflicts between the depressed woman fights with her spouse. Also, depression affects the children because women tend to be in a state of loneliness which makes the kids feel neglected which may not be the case. Also, various social determinants have gotten stated in the article and how they contribute to depression in women. Gender inequality is observed as a significant cause of depression in women because they feel not fully appreciated and perceived as inferior which causes some women to get depressed. Furthermore, the article details the stakeholders that play a significant role in ensuring that the situation of the depressed women improves by building free and fully furnished apartments to them. Moreover, the government may sometime create health policies that get aimed at improving the situations of the depressed women especially those who come from unfortunate backgrounds.
References
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