Theresa Boettler
English Comp II
Mr. Andrew Sippie
May 11, 2014 It Does Hurt "One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."(Freud). Everyone lives a life of struggles, but it is how those struggles affect an individual. Some people can learn from their struggles, as for others, mental and physical issues take a toll on one's self. We could blame hormones as an underlying factor for depression in women. The demands that women have to face in a fast paced world we live in, such as mother, housewife, her career and how society expects women to look. Even though both men and women both suffer from depression, there are more women diagnosed than men. Women seem to suffer more from depression than men, and there is a reason for it.
There are three main hormones that are present during hormonal depression. We can start with what helps fight against insomnia, serotonin, but without estrogen, we would not have serotonin to help with this struggle of both depression and insomnia. So, the lower the level of estrogen, the lower the levels of serotonin then you end up not sleeping and moody. Next, you need to have progesterone to help maintain the balance of estrogen. Again, we need to have high levels of progesterone, to keep high levels of estrogen, to keep the rise of serotonin high, so that we can continue to feel good and get a good night rest. Finally, we have Cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that will affect you whether the levels are too high or too low; both can have not so detrimental effects on a person. If the levels are too high, you run the risk of having an unsettling feeling, craving for sugars and the one this everyone wants to avoid, the increase in belly fat. On the other hand, if the cortisol levels are too low, you might find yourself having difficulty trying to cope with stress, and having a lower sex drive, and shifts in your mood along with feeling tired all the time ("Hormones").
Pregnancy is supposed to be a time of rejoice and bringing new life into the world, and for most, family. It is sad, that what should be such a happy time for most, some have to fight the battle of depression while after giving birth. What is interesting is that demographics, income, and support also can affect women's post-partum depression. After bringing home a baby from the hospital, there is always an adjustment period, trying to settle in. The new routine may make mom feel a little overwhelmed. There are three different types of post-partum depression that can affect new moms. Most new mothers, about 70%, are diagnosed with the "baby blues", which is normal but different from post-partum. These women that suffer from the "baby blues" tend to have symptoms of higher emotions, crying, weeping, problems with appetite and sleep and normally do not last very long, but they do run a higher risk of being diagnosed with post-partum. So on to Post-partum, which affects about 10% to 20% of women, can manifest itself as early as 24 hours after giving birth, and could show up as late as one year after giving birth. These new moms are obsessed with the feeding, and sleeping and health of their new babies, I guess you can say a non-stop worry for the best of the child. Finally, we come to the most severe of post-partum, Post-Partum Psychosis that affect 0.02% of women. This normally only occurs with mothers that have already suffered from bipolar or another psychosis. Even though this extreme post-partum does not affect most women, it is the dangerous and detrimental to the new mother, as it is to the baby and family. The symptoms that the new mom will incur are delusions and hallucinations and having a difficult time trying to collect her