Gender and Depression

I am currently doing my literature review and the topic that i chose was

the influence of age at gender differences in depression.

i came across a magnificent article about it that i want to share with all of u reading my blog.. hahaha.. to show my support for my fans mer.. XD

generally, women are twice as likely as men to develop depression.. and one of the cause might be because of their hormones.. y is that so?

when women are under stressful situation, estrogen promotes anxiety and depression, whereas testosteron actually does the opposite (Harvard Mental Health Letter, 2006).. how cool is that?? hahaha (a note here, this is just a theory that the researches came up with.. this theory might not be true)

a recent animal experiment tested this theory and the researchers uses rat to conduct the experiment. the rats were repeatedly forced to swim and provided with what looked like a plausible exit. however, the apparatus were arranged in a way that their escape would always be frustating and more often that not, the rats would give up. (Harvard Mental Health Letter, 2006)

here is where it gets interesting...

this state of apathy or learned helplessness, which kind of resembles depression was slower to develop if they were given antidepressants. male rats also tend to keep trying for a longer period as compared to female. (Harvard Mental Health Letter, 2006)

male rats however gave up sooner if they were given estrogen and female rats would try longer when they were given testosterone. (Harvard Mental Health Letter, 2006)

COOOOOLLLL ISN'T IT???!!!

the limitations of this experiment though is that this result does not appear in all animal testing... besides that, whether or not the results from the rats are generalizable to human is disputed. (Harvard Mental Health Letter, 2006) whatever la huh.. whether or not human act that way, me just want to share this cool piece of article..

hehehe.. if you guys want to know more on why women are seriously more depressed than men, then i suggest go and read more and sent in your comments la..

by then i think i should have finished my literature review, and if there are people who are interested in it, then i will post it up.. why women are more depressed than men, using experiments that have humans as participants..

hehehe

God Bless

Reference: Harvard Medical School (2006). Men and Depression. Harvard Mental Health Letter, vol 5, number 23, pg. 1-2. Retrieved 16th June, 2007 from Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection database.