Depression is defined by the Mayo Clinic as “a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called…clinical depression, it affects how [a person feels, thinks and behaves] and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. [A sufferer] may have trouble doing normal day-to-day activities, and sometimes [may feel as if their] life isn 't worth living” (2015). According to the textbook, approximately twenty percent of Americans will develop major depression in their lifetimes (Etaugh, Bridges, 2013). Among those twenty percent of Americans who suffer from major depression, “women are about twice as likely as men to develop” the condition (Nolen-Hoeksema 2001). This essay explores the various theories …show more content…
A study conducted by Lutz-Zois et al. in 2013 calls into question the validity of these claims by conducting a study based off “research [found] that men score equal or even higher than women on measures of self-silencing [which] lead theorists to speculate that self-silencing tendencies may be driven by different motivations and have different consequences for women versus men.” The study found “more similarities than differences in that both men and women who scored high on the Externalized Self-Perception, Silencing the Self, and Divided Self subscales were more likely to report anger, depression, rejection sensitivity, avoidant attachment styles, and anxious attachment styles” which ultimately means that “despite possibly differing motives for self-silencing between men and women, certain aspects of self-silencing are associated with negative affect and relationship-specific anxiety and avoidance regardless of gender” (Lutz-Zois et al., 2013). This theory holds plausibility for explaining the high incidence rate of depression in America in both genders—and could help explain why there is still a high number of men who do not report their feelings of depression—yet fails to provide significant evidence proving that silencing the self is the most likely cause of the higher incident rate among