Depression is a mental health illness characterized by a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest in usual activities. It is a severe medical illness that most people have gone through at some stage in their lifetime and to address the disorder, factors that increase the chance of people suffering from it have to be studied well. Social determinants of health are examples of factors that determine the severity of depression on any person. These social determinants include gender, disability, and socioeconomic status. Provided that all other factors remain constant, an element such as gender has a significant influence on the way an individual will deal with depression. Research, for example, has shown that women are twice more likely to suffer from depression than men. The explanation is that there are conditions that men have over women that make them less susceptible to depression. The same reason also explains why depressed men are more likely to continue with their daily routines as compared to women (Radloff, 1975). This essay seeks to explain how these factors affect the life of a depressed person.
Gender
Research done over the past years across different stages of life and ethnic groups has shown a higher number of women suffering from depression compared to men (Culbertson, 1997). The reasons given for this difference are not clear but are thought to be associated with some factors which include: biological factors, psychological factors, and socio-cultural factors. The fluctuating hormone levels in women presents itself as a biological factor as these changes take place during menstruation, giving birth and menopause. Researchers have speculated on the fluctuations in hormones such as estrogen to explain women’s susceptibility to depression. Mothers who have recently given birth usually experience moodiness some days after delivery. When these mood swings extend to more than ten days, then they can lead to depression. Increased depression can also be attributed to a woman losing self-esteem when she reaches her menopausal stage (Harlow & Abraham,1999). The thought of being infertile makes women feel unwanted by their mates leading to the low self-esteem. The psychological factors are brought out by the fact that women are more ruminative than men. They tend to think more about life issues such as relationships, children safety, and their looks. Distresses brought about by these issues, therefore, have a more depressing effect on women than men. Women have a double kind of life to live as they go to work just like men and also, they have the primary task of maintaining a home and bringing up children. It is because the culture has dictated that women should do most of the house chores and this has not been abolished even if women are now working. The stress due to the pressures of double life is likely to make women depressed. Most of the women are seen to be emotionally weak and sensitive, and this can be a challenge in dealing with negative opinions from people. This is because most women are viewed to be self-conscious in matters of appearance, belongings, personality, and lifestyle thus feelings of inferiority can cast a shadow on their personality leading to depression.
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Socioeconomic Status
Low socioeconomic status (SES) is one factor that can lead to increased depression cases in individuals. SES is a broad concept and can be split into smaller components such as education, occupation, income and wealth. Research has shown that overeducated people may tend to develop mental distress associated with their workplaces (Benedict, Gayatridevi & Velayudhan, 2009). The reasons or these distresses may be due to the idea of them not being challenged enough to explore their maximum skills. They also feel to have jobs of less prestige as compared to their education level and this causes some dissatisfaction which may eventually lead to depression. On the other hand, people who have lower academic qualifications than their colleagues tend to feel inferior, and the likelihood of being depressed is even higher. Students may become depressed even in school because of scoring low grades because they think that their colleagues are likely to succeed more than them.
Occupation, income and wealth have a close relationship and can be explained as a single factor such as economic status. The super-successful class in life is surprisingly more prone to depression as compared to an average individual (Martikainen et al., 2003). People holding the most admirable titles such as the CEOs, the founders, and the innovators are faced with unique challenges that the general public can easily evade. One of the causes of depression in the high class is wearying competition. In a struggle to always remain on top, most successful people develop an unhealthy competition that can easily lead to depression when things are not going their way. Another reason could be having to work for so long and limiting their time to focus on small yet crucial things such as family time. Low economic status also affects the likelihood of an individual suffering from depression. An explanation is that harsh conditions such as unemployment, poverty and housing unaffordability can easily bring about mental stress. Besides the economic capability of an individual, the state of satisfaction also affects the psychological health of a person. People who are not contented with their economic class are also more likely to be depressed. This does not count whether one is in the lower or upper class.
Disability
Most people living with a disability can live an awesome life, but it is correct to say that disability has the potential to produce negative feelings which may lead to depression (Keogh et al., 2006). People who become disabled in the course of their life are more likely to experience depression as compared to those who were born with it. The reasons why disability can make someone vulnerable to depression include Loss of a life purpose, low self-esteem, frustrations over changes in career and new struggles of life. When an individual who has been putting so much effort to achieve a certain career goal becomes disabled, he/she feels like life has lost its purpose. It could be even more devastating if the person wanted to follow a particular career only. If the person was a breadwinner, he/she could feel worthless, and this increases the chances of depression.
Becoming disabled can make a person lose self-confidence from the way they are unable to control their body well. Some people feel that they are becoming a burden to others and this further lowers their self-esteem. Change of jobs into less challenging and less prestigious ones after a disability leads to frustrations and even reduced productivity at the workplace. The struggle that comes with a disability is also a reason for depression. People might be forced to learn new tricks to survive when they lose some of their body parts. An example is a person who has experienced brain damage, and he/she is expected to learn afresh tasks such as how to speak, gripping things, among others. Feeling bored due to the life changes can expose a person to depression too. A person that has injured his foot and was playing soccer before, for instance, may feel bored trying to adapt to play another game that suits his new state. Severe damage that makes an individual unable to play any sport can increase the chances of mental stress leading to depression.
Conclusion
Depression is a disorder that can affect anyone at any time, but its severity depends on factors discussed in the essay. Gender, disability, and socioeconomic status influence the way an individual deal with depression. These social determinants of health also influence the susceptibility of individuals to depression (Liang et al., 2012). Women are at a higher risk of being depressed than men and there are a number of reason to explain it. People living with a disability also have a high chance of suffering from depression especially those who were not born with the depression. The socioeconomic status of an individual is another factor that affect how people cope with depression. These are only the main factors, but there are many more determinants of the degree of depression. A person with more than one of these factors is at very high risk of developing the mental illness and hence extra care has to be offered in such instances.
References
Benedict, J., Gayatridevi, S., & Velayudhan, A. (2009). Perceived overqualification, job satisfaction, somatization and job stress of MNC executives. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, 35(2), 283-289.
Culbertson, F. M. (1997). Depression and gender: an international review. American Psychologist, 52(1), 25.
Harlow, B. L., & Abraham, M. E. (1999). Depression in menopause. In Menopause (pp. 111-124). Humana Press, Totowa, NJ.
Keogh, E., McCracken, L. M., & Eccleston, C. (2006). Gender moderates the association between depression and disability in chronic pain patients. European Journal of Pain, 10(5), 413-413.
Liang, Y., Gong, Y. H., Wen, X. P., Guan, C. P., Li, M. C., Yin, P., & Wang, Z. Q. (2012). Social determinants of health and depression: a preliminary investigation from rural China. PLoS One, 7(1), e30553.
Martikainen, P., Adda, J., Ferrie, J. E., Smith, G. D., & Marmot, M. (2003). Effects of income and wealth on GHQ depression and poor self-rated health in white collar women and men in the Whitehall II study. Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 57(9), 718-723.
Radloff, L. (1975). Sex differences in depression. Sex roles, 1(3), 249-265.
