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