Women and Depression: A Handbook for the Social, Behavioral, and Biomedical Sciences

Throughout the world, rates of depression are greater among females than males, and this gender gap emerges during adolescence and persists throughout adulthood. Until recently, women’s health has centered on the topic of reproductive health, because research focused almost exclusively on biological and anatomical differences distinguishing men and women. Social and behavioral research on gender differences in health now employs multiple disciplinary frameworks and methodologies, and researchers seek to understand the higher rates of specific diseases and disorders in women and men. Symptoms of depression and the diagnosis of depression are more prevalent in women, and research that focuses on biological, psychological, and sociopolitical explanations for this gender gap should now be brought together to better inform efforts at treatment and prevention. Women and Depression is a handbook that serves to move toward a more integrative approach to women’s depression in particular and mental health for all more generally.

• This handbook will be multidisciplinary, including sociology, public health, psychology and psychiatry • It provides a comprehensive viewpoint on the primary question, Why are rates of depression higher in women than in men? • Most volumes on gender and mental illness are outdated which makes this book give a fresh outlook on gender and depression

Part I. Nosology, Measurement, and the Epidemiology of Women and Depression: 1. Depression: from nosology to global burden Kay Wilhelm; 2. Epidemiology of depression in women Ronald Kessler; Part II. Biological, Developmental, and Aging Models of Risk: 3. The biology underpinnings of depression Ania Korszun, Margaret Altemus, and Elizabeth Young; 4. Depressive disorders in women: from Menarche to beyond the menopause Wendy Somerset, D. Jeffrey Newport, Kim Ragan and Zachary N. Stowe; 5. Does puberty account for the gender differential in depression? Laura M. DeRose, A. Jordan Wright and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn; 6. Women’s aging and depression Brenda Penninx; Part III. Cognitive, Emotional, and Interpersonal Models of Risk: 7. Cognition and depression Joan Girgus and Susan Nolen-Hoeksema; 8. Personality and depression in women Thomas A. Widiger, Stephanie Mullins-Sweatt and Kristen G. Anderson; 9. The social costs of stress: how sex differences in stress responses can lead to social stress vulnerability and depression in women Laura Cousino Klein, Elizabeth J. Corwin, and Rachel M. Ceballos; 10. Marriage and depression Mark A. Whisman, Lauren M. Weinstock, and Natalie Tolejko; 11. Depression in women who are mothers: an integrative model of risk for the development of psychopathology in their sons and daughters Sherryl H. Goodman and Erin Tully; Part IV. Social, Political, and Economic Models of Risk: 12. Social suffering, gender, and women’s depression Jeanne Marecek; 13. Women, work, and depression: conceptual and policy issues Mary Clare Lennon; 14. Culture, race/ethnicity, and depression Pamela Braboy-Jackson and David Williams; 15. Trauma and depression Kristin M. Penza, Christine Heim, and Charles Nemeroff; 16. Public health approach to depression and women: the case of the disadvantaged inner-city woman Claire E. Sterk, Katherine P. Theall and Kirk W. Elifson; Part V. Systems and Processes of Treatment, Prevention, and Policy: 17. Services and treatment for depression: international perspectives and implications for a gender-sensitive approach Shekhar Saxena and Pratap Sharan; 18. Prevention of depression in women Tamar Mendelson and Ricardo F. Munoz; 19. Women and depression: research, theory, and social policies Jean Hamilton and Nancy F. Russo.

\'It integrates information from a multidisciplinary perspective, including psychiatry, psychology, sociology, public health and public policy … this volume stands out as one that meets the high standard set in the field. The editors have done a masterful job of assembling an excellent group of authors, knowledgeable about the major issues related to the impact of depression on women.\' Journal of Psychological Medicine