What is depression?
Everyone occasionally feels blue or sad, but these feelings are usually fleeting and pass within a couple of days.
When a woman has a depressive disorder, it interferes with daily life and normal functioning and causes pain for both the woman with the disorder and those who care about her.
Depression is a common but serious illness, and most who have it need treatment to get better. Depression a
affects both men and women, but more women than men are likely to be diagnosed with depression in any given year.
1 Efforts to explain this difference are ongoing, as researchers explore certain factors (biological, social, etc.) that are unique to women.
Many women with a depressive illness never seek treatment. But the vast majority, even those with the most severe depression, can get better with treatment.