gnificant weight loss or weight gain when not dieting (change of more than 5% body weight)
Insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day
Psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day
Fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day
Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt nearly every day
Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day
Recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicide ideation, or a suicide attempt.
The above symptoms can not be caused by substance use nor a general medical condition, and major depressive disorder cannot be diagnosed if accompanied by a history of manic, hypomanic, or mixed episodes, or if the condition is accounted for by schizoaffective disordered or superimposed on schizophrenia, (Major, 1994, p. 1)
Women are twice as likely as men to experience clinical depression at some point during their lives, though the exact etiology of this difference is unclear. Sloan and Kornstein (2003, p. 581) note that ôpsychosocialö and ôneurobiologicö factors are likely contribute to this difference. Stressors within the environment clearly play a role. Depression appears to be associated in many instances with ômajor traumasö such as the dissolution of a marriage, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the onset of serious illness or injury, and other severe life events (Harris, 2001, p. 17). One in five women can expect to develop major depressive disorder at some point in her life, while fifteen percent of those women will commit suicide, (Depression, 2005, p. 2). While women are twice as likely to experience major depression as men, men are three times as likely to commit suicide and older, retired men, are more at risk for depression, (Depression, 2005, p. 2).
The noting of widespread gender differences in rates of depression dates back two decades, with women consistently reported as having ôa twofold life time prevalence of depressi...