Depression suicide and gender roles

[Music]

[Applause]

i would like

to solve two riddles with you the

riddles

are about depression and suicide

did you know that depression is one of

the leading causes of disability

worldwide

and did you know that it mainly affects

women

while one in 10 men will suffer from a

serious depressive disorder

once at least once in a lifetime it is

as many

as 2 in 10 women twice as many

worldwide this gender gap is one of the

big

riddles of psychiatry

you all know that depression can lead to

suicide

so from what i’ve just told you you

might now expect

that also suicide is much more common in

women

but on the contrary it is mainly men

who die from suicide this

paradox gender gap is the second riddle

i’ve been interested in these two

riddles for quite some time now

why well because i’m convinced that if

we could solve them

we could prevent depression and suicide

so let’s look into depression first

why is it that women suffer from this

disease

twice as often as men

could it be a false finding

could it just be that we detect

depression

more often in women because they seek

help more often

well there is some evidence pointing in

that direction but it doesn’t fully

explain the

huge difference there mainly seems to be

a true

difference how can you explain it then

well depression is quite a complex

disorder

which can have biological as well as

psychosocial causes

so could it be that women are just

more prone to depression because of

their biology

their sex hormones their genetics

so far there is hardly any evidence for

that

rather on contrary the female sex

hormones

the main female sex hormones estrogens

rather seem to

protect from depression so

they remain psychosocial causes

and here we seem to be on the right path

in fact

many psychosocial risk factors for

depression

are much more common in women than in

men

for example sexual abuse domestic

violence

discrimination you name it

and also certain personality factors

and tonight i want to focus on them

research on personality traits has shown

that women on average differ from men

on average only of course there’s not

the woman

and no men there rather is a high

overlap

of genders but on average

women seem to have a lower self-esteem

to be more

shameful less assertive

and less action-oriented

and you know what all these

characteristics

are quite well known risk factors for

depression

gender differences also pop up in

cognitive style

let’s say you have a conflict with a

colleague

if you’re a woman then you typically

think

oh what have i done wrong certainly it’s

my fault

i always do everything wrong

while if you’re men you will typically

think

not my thought due to the colleague the

situation

and you move on women

not only tend to internalize conflicts

they also often ruminate about them

they develop feelings of guilt and

thereby

depression men in contrast

tend to externalize they cope more

actively with

problems but sometimes also aggressively

and this if directed towards others

can lead to fights but if directed

towards themselves the question it can

lead

to suicide

why is it that women have these

tendencies

well here i would like to tell you your

personal story

when i was a little child school girl

we girls all used to have poetry albums

and let me share a typical poem with you

it says grow up

like a violet in the moss modest

simple and pure not like a proud rose

which always wants to be on it

this poem in my view quite clearly

shows how girls were brought up

they primarily had to be modest

boys were not proud of in that way

you might now say that this is

completely different nowadays

but i sometimes doubt it if i look at my

students

so many bright young women

are still very modest and hardly there

to claim too much for themselves

some of them in switzerland many of them

even do not dare to pursue their careers

when they get children for the sake of

motherhood

and family they say but i’ve hardly seen

one young man

who doesn’t dare to pursue his career

for the sake of fatherhood and family

this is quite unfortunate as

perpetuating these traditional gender

roles

might at the same time also perpetuate

the risk factors for women for

depression in women which i mentioned

right now

some confirmation for this hypothesis

has recently come

from a large wa joe study which showed

that the gender gap in depression

seems to decrease over generations in

those countries

where general traditionality decreases

but what about men what about their

suicide risk which is two to four times

higher

than that of women in most countries of

the world

the main explanation for that is that

men do not like to seek help

when they suffer from mental problems

they also use more aggressive and that

is more lethal methods

when attempting suicide

and this again could be related to

traditional gender

roles thus according to the

traditional masculinity ideal a real man

is strong

and independent he doesn’t show any

weaknesses

doesn’t need help and isn’t that also

due to upbringing

in that case of little girls of little

boys

sorry of little boys isn’t that exactly

what we tell them

little boys a boy is strong

doesn’t cry doesn’t call for help

so what’s the conclusion of though all

that what message do i want you to take

home

well in my view it’s quite obvious

if you want the world to be happier

with less depression less suicide

then have a more critical look at

traditional gender roles

and try to contact them wherever

and whenever possible already

and most importantly in the upbringing

of children

help women to counteract traditional

femininity

when it’s self-destructive

start with little girls strengthen their

self-esteem

encourage their active coping their

assertiveness read the books of pippy

longstocking to them

also help men to contact their

traditional masculinity when it’s

self-destructive

encourage little boys to show their

feelings

show their weaknesses call for help

as gloria steinem said we have now begun

to raise our girls or daughters more

like our

sons but few have the courage

to raise the sons more like the

daughters

have the courage thank you

you