What are typical signs in women?
The leading symptoms, which are present in every depressed patient, are the same in both sexes and in all age groups. However, how exactly the first signs of these symptoms manifest themselves and to what extent further symptoms occur varies greatly between patients due to a variety of factors. Gender is one of the most important influences.
Gender-specific differences in depression, especially at the onset of the disease, are relevant because they allow early diagnosis and treatment. Today, significantly more women than men are diagnosed and treated with depression. It is not entirely clear whether women really do suffer from depression so much more often than men, or whether it is simply more often detected because they show the onset of symptoms more clearly.
These early signs of depression include, for example, an increasing deterioration in mood, which can manifest itself, among other things, in increased irritability. Women become snippy, look pessimistically into the future and are difficult to motivate; fears and worries become more important for those affected. This bad mood is not uncommon among many women, but it becomes suspicious when it lasts for several weeks.
Physical symptoms also appear at the very beginning of a depression, above all sleeping disorders and loss of appetite, but also unspecific complaints such as headaches or stomach aches. During the day, patients therefore experience rapid fatigue, feeling tired and unable to cope with stress. Concentrating becomes difficult, completing tasks seems impossible.
Thoughts often revolve around negative topics, large parts of the day are spent brooding. The libido also decreases and tensions in the relationship can arise. All these signs occur in both sexes, but are usually easier to recognize in women.
There are many reasons for this, such as the hormonal cycle, which intensifies such symptoms, or the social role model, in which women can express these symptoms more easily. In today’s society, having psychological problems is more associated with women than with men. Thus, women not only show typical symptoms more often, they are also more likely to conclude that they are depressed.
What are typical signs in men?
Depressed men have the same symptoms as depressed women, but show them differently. They also lack drive, are listless and can hardly get excited about anything. Like women, they suffer from sleep problems, are tired and inefficient during the day and spend hours brooding about the future and current problems.
However, in many cases they find it more difficult to talk about these complaints. Often they do not perceive these symptoms as such, but blame the stress at work, for example, for the restlessness and negative mood and do not think about it any further. The symptoms are therefore usually initially untypical.
Men also resort more often than women to compensatory means such as alcohol to escape the symptoms. An incipient depression can therefore look quite different for men and likes to hide behind other symptoms. New or intensified behaviour, such as increased aggressiveness and outbursts of anger, increased alcohol consumption, massive irritability or particularly risky behaviour, can be signs of depression.
The performance weakness that is regularly associated with the disease is more often compensated for in men with increased work enthusiasm or an unhealthy high level of sport, while women are more likely to take it easy and try to recover. Instead of retreating, many men therefore choose to take the plunge. On the one hand this worsens the symptoms and on the other hand it worsens the depression, as the pressure and stress increase.
In our society, men are under even greater pressure to perform than women and depression is considered by many to be a sign of weakness. The symptoms of the illness give them a feeling of helplessness, from which they try to escape with extreme actions. It is therefore much more difficult to recognise early signs of depression in men. This also explains why, as the severity of the depression increases, the number of people with the disease returns to the same level for both sexes when the symptoms are clear and men also go to the doctor, whereas in the case of mild depression, significantly more women are treated.
