The New York State Nurses Association is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

This course has been awarded 2.4 contact hours.

Depression is a mood disorder; it is a pervasive and debilitating illness that affects both women and men, however, women experience depression at roughly twice the rate of men (Blehar and Oren, 1997). According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), nearly twice as many women (12.0 percent) as men (6.6 percent) suffer from major depressive disorder each year. These figures translate to 12.4 million women and 6.4 million men in the U.S. More shocking is that the NIMH estimates that 80% of depression remains untreated because it is unrecognized.

The lifetime risk for depression is 12.7% for men and 21.3% for women, meaning that at any point in time, an estimated 340 million people throughout the world and 18 million people in the US have major depressive disorder (Greden, 2002). Four times as many men commit suicide as women (Hoyert et al., 1999); however, women attempt suicide 2-3 times more often than men (Weissman et al., 1999).

Life is full of emotional ups and downs. When the "down" times are long lasting or interfere with the ability to function, one may be suffering from a very common, serious illness: depression. Clinical depression affects mood, mind, body, and behavior. Although, almost one in ten adults experience depression each year, nearly two-thirds do not get the help they need (Robbins and Reiger, 1990). Treatment can alleviate the symptoms in over 80 percent of the cases. Yet, because it often goes unrecognized, depression continues to cause unnecessary suffering. The suffering endured by people with depression and the lives lost to suicide attest to the great burden of this disorder on individuals, families, and society. Improved recognition, treatment, and prevention of depression are critical public health priorities.

How did depression become such a public health issue? Why are women more likely to suffer from this illness? Is there a biological component to the answer? A genetic component? Are women's experiences more likely to make them prone to depressive disorder? This course will explore the issues related to depression in women, including etiology, classification of depressive disorders, symptomatology and treatment of depressive disorders.

Given the prevalence of depressive disorders in women, and the estimates that most depression remains untreated, nurses, as healthcare providers of women throughout the lifecycle, play a critical role in the identification and treatment of depression. Additionally, as the vast majority of nurses are themselves women, this information can be useful in a personal way.

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Course Objectives

At the completion of this learning activity the learner will be able to:

• Describe differences in clinical presentation of depression in women as compared to men.

• Discuss factors which contribute to the incidence of depressive symptoms in women.

• State the diagnostic categories of depression.

• Discuss depressive symptoms relative to developmental stages in women.

• Identify strategies for treatment.