JOIN USWomen are more than two-and-a-half times more likely than men to suffer from depression, especially during the “reproductive years” between 16 and 42 years. Women aged between 25 and 40 years, under “tremendous burden” of balacing home and family life, are three to four times more likely to become depressed than men, The Telegraph reports.
Prof Hans Ulrich Wittchen, study author from Dresden University of Technology, Germany, said both genders were equally vulnerable to mental health problems but some disorders affected one sex more than the other.
He said: “Marriage appears to reduce the risk of depression in males, for females it increases the risk. “In females, you see these incredibly high rates of depressive episodes at times when they sometimes have their babies, where they raise children, where they have to cope with the double responsibility of job and family.”
The study of 30 European countries, including Britain, published by the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, found that 164.8 million people - or 38.2 per cent of the population - suffers from a mental disorder.
All major mental health disorders were included, including depression, bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders, insomnia, addiction and schizophrenia.