Astronomer

I remember seeing a study where they tested lab rats by injecting hormones that men and women feel into the rats and seeing how they respond. The female rats were much more susceptible to hormonal imbalance than the male rats. Like, the male rats' reactions to high testosterone levels were nowhere near as severe as the female rats' reactions to female hormone levels. It was a really interesting study, I wish I could find it on the net but I can't.

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boo boo

Despite that I still don't think women are inherently more likely to have serious emotional problems than men. Harmonal balance is just one aspect of it.

I have to agree with Ribbons that the human condition is equally miserable for everyone. But still the likelyhood of a guy deciding that a great way to start the day is to shoot up a mall full of people with an uzi is greater than if a women were to do the same thing. Women may have an issue with balance but they seem to be better at coping with stressful and painful life conditions than men.

Women wisely don't try to bottle up their emotions, men do and that's what makes them go apesh*t.

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Astronomer

Then why are depression and other mental disorders significantly more common in women?

That's from Gender differences in unipolar depression: An update of epidemiological findings and possible explanations. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 2003;108(3):163–74. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0447.2003.00204.x. PMID 12890270.

I'm not saying that women suffer more than men, I think that both genders suffer equally and in different ways, it's just interesting that depressive and emotional disorders are statistically more common in women and that perhaps hormonal imbalance has some kind of bearing on it and the fact that women do have to deal with regular hormonal craziness.

EDIT: Yes, you are completely correct in that it is probably true that the likelyhood of a guy deciding that a great way to start the day is to shoot up a mall full of people with an uzi is greater than if a women were to do the same thing. Because testosterone levels can promote aggression in males. But that kind of aggressive and violent impulsivity is not the only form of emotional instability. Aggression is not the only emotion... there is sadness, depression, anxiety, self-esteem issues, etc... both genders experience these differently.

It's also interesting that you say despite having these hormonal instabilities women are better at coping with them in life... because successful suicide attempts are more common in men than women. Women attempt suicide more, but often it is a cry for help rather than a choice to end their life. While emotional disorders are more common in women, they choose to be strong and deal with it rather than end their life. Someone suggested it's because women have great responsibilities in their lives such as their children and family who they don't want to abandon. It's pretty interesting looking at the statistics though.

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boo boo

Maybe it's just because it's more reported with women? Men are much less open about their emotional problems.

All I'm really saying is that regardless of who is more likely to have mental issues, women are less likely to act on psychotic impulses and at least compared to men exhibit better self control. They're more likely to sob at a funeral sure but I don't think simply being very emotional is being ubstable. That's actually pretty healthy.

Also stuff like harmonal changes is a biological/mood thing. I'm talking more specifically about mental disorders like psychopathy, a total lack of empathy. It's people with these problems who tend to be the most destructive and dangerous. And antisocial personality disorders are sigificantly more common with men.

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Janszoon

As far as depression goes, I would argue that they aren't. The degree to which women are more likely than men to suffer from what is described as depression is the same degree to which men are more likely than women to have substance abuse problems. Sounds to me like to different manifestations of the same problem.

I'm not sure what other mental disorders you're referring to, but I know schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are equally present in both sexes.

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Astronomer

By that you're saying that all people who suffer from abuse problems have depression... which I don't think is necessarily true. I don't think they are manifestations of the same problem - mental illnesses are not all the same problem and are incredibly intricate and complex.

I probably should have clarified but I'm basically just talking about depressive and emotional disorders such as depression and bi-polar disorder - NOT other mental disorders such as abuse problems, addiction, anxiety, etc. I'm not saying that women suffer from every single mental disorder way more than men, but simply that research shows depression and other similarly Axis-grouped disorders are more prevalent in women. I just find this interesting, especially since it goes hand in hand with research on hormonal imbalances in men and women.

And I don't necessarily agree 100%, I just find it interesting that all surveys and research clearly indicate that emotional disorders such as the ones I have mentioned are more present in women. There are definitely a plethora of disorders which are more prevalent in men - I know from my work as an integration aide that autism, OCD, and often anxiety seem to be much more common in men. I probably should have not included the umbrella term of mental disorders in my statement, but honed in to the specifics.

Lol, what genital design flaws?

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Janszoon

I didn't say all mental problems were the same. I was making a connection between two specific things: depression and substance abuse. I'm not the only person to make this connection. Don't you think it's a little odd that men allegedly have a lower rate of depression than women but have much higher rates of substance abuse and suicide? Couple that with the fact that men are raised to be more reticent about discussing their feelings and fairly obvious cause and effect situation becomes apparent.

But, as I mentioned previously, bipolar disorder is equally common in men and women.

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midnight rain

yeh i was about to bring up the whole suicide thing. women are allegedly more likely to attempt it but men are more likely to succeed. kinda makes you question these so-called 'depression' diagnoses.