Anger in men often causes depression

Tantrums, increased risk taking, and aggression can all cause depression in men

15/11/2013

When men suffer from depression, they usually have other symptoms than women. Tantra, aggression and increased risk-taking can be an indication of the disease. This was announced by the German Society for Psychosomatic Medicine and Medical Psychotherapy (DGPM) in Berlin with regard to a new US study to the news agency „afp“ With. While women mostly suffered from sadness, listlessness and insomnia, men often responded differently.

Diagnosis for depression in men has considerable deficits
An investigation by researchers at the University of Michigan evaluated the data from a nationwide survey involving some 5,700 people. As it turned out, men had very different symptoms from women when they suffered from depression. On the basis of these results, the researchers compiled a catalog of criteria listing, on the one hand, the traditional, but also typical male symptoms of depression.

Overall, 30.6 percent of male and 33.3 percent of female study participants suffered from depression. While it was previously thought that significantly more women than men suffer from the mental illness, the study found that there is little difference between the sexes. According to current diagnostic criteria, 25 percent of women and only 12 percent of men in the study suffered from depression.

The results of the investigation were in the journal „JAMA“ released.

Women are not prone to depression, men only suffer more secretly
As the DGPM said, the study refutes the prevailing view that women are more susceptible to the disease. The cause of this assumption are above all deficits in diagnostics. Women are still twice as likely as men to be treated for depression. In the future, the experts want a more open approach to mental illness in men. „Talking to the doctor about his emotional state, let alone talking about depressive moods, is still a taboo for many men, "said Harald Gündel, DGPM spokesman, the news agency.

As explained by the Men's Health Foundation in April this year with reference to the Men's Health Report, the proportion of mental disorders among men as a cause of incapacity for work has been almost twice as high since 2000. Accordingly, nine percent of men were diagnosed with depression. According to the foundation, however, the number of unreported cases is very much higher. Men would suffer more secretly, say the experts. This is also supported by the significant increase in suicide rates in men. According to information from the Federal Ministry of Health, about four million people in Germany are affected by depression. (Ag)