What Are The Leading Causes of Depression and Anxiety In Women Today?

Depression can happen to anybody. But there appears to be more women suffering from depression and anxiety than men. It's true that there are several factors that trigger depression, but among women, hormones, stress, and vitamin supplementation (or specifically, the lack thereof) are identified as the leading causes of depression.

Hormonal Imbalance

Hormones do plenty of amazing things in the body. Apparently, you cannot have too many or too little of them in order to be at the peak of your health. An imbalance in your hormones can cause a variety of changes in your system. Yes, it can cause depression, among many other things. Women at various stages of their life are especially prone to depression because of hormonal activity which can become abnormal during adolescence, menstrual period, pregnancy, post pregnancy, and menopause.

Stress

Women are by nature more emotional, the reason perhaps hwy they react more to various forms of stress, financial and otherwise. Women have to deal with stress everyday, but unlike men who simply dismiss certain things, women go out of their way to solve or deal with a particular problem right there and then as much as possible

Vitamin Supplementation

In spite of the importance of vitamin supplementation, women often take this for granted as they focus more on things they consider more important than their well being - kids, family, career. They don't realize that vitamins and minerals play a huge role in preventing and controlling depression. In fact, experts have found a link between depression and the lack of certain vitamins, most particularly the B vitamins, and Omega 3 fatty acids.

Treatment Options for Depression

Treatment has to be started as soon as possible to prevent depression from getting uncontrollable or severe. In order to find the most appropriate treatment, your doctor will first and foremost identify the factors that have led you to the state you are now in.

Hormonal Injections

If your erratic hormones are causing your depression, your doctor may put you on hormonal injections to control them in the hope of controlling your depression. Not every woman out there will be qualified to take hormonal injections, though, as they come with contraindications and special precautions.

Stress Management

If stress is the causative factor for depression, your doctor is likely to suggest stress management along perhaps with medications. It is important that you keep stress well under control and not let it control your life. Here are a few interesting ideas to control stress:

• Shop till you drop. Well, why not? What woman will refuse the idea of shopping? Just don't max out your credit cards or you'll have more problems on your back. Shopping, window shopping, that is, is stress relieving. Actually, you don't have to buy anything, even if it is on sale. Shopping gives you a certain thrill and keeps you exhilarated, making you forget (if only temporary) your stressors.


• Take up dance lessons. Dancing is really a good way to express yourself. It does not matter if you think you have two left feet. You dance to de-stress yourself, not impress somebody else! So put on your dancing shoes and dance your worries away.

Vitamin Supplementation

On the other hand if the lack of vitamins is what triggered depression, then all you need to do is to make sure you are getting enough B vitamins and Omega 3 fatty acids. If you cannot do it by changing your diet to include food items rich in these essential elements, your next best choice is to take in vitamins and fatty acids that are of the highest quality.