Affective disorders

Resumen

Women are typically 2�3 times more likely to develop depressive disorders than men. Although depression is a multifactorial disorder, its etiology cannot be dissociated from the socioeconomic and cultural environment. The current construct of role has a great importance in the etiology of depression. Despite the fact that genetic vulnerability and sex hormones have been considered the main causal factors of this difference, nowadays some other factors are taken into account, such as emotion regulation strategies (women are more likely to ruminate, whereas men tend to suppress or avoid their emotions) and changes in the classical personality features attributed to men and women (�depressive temperament�) and in the sex role (chronic stresses associated with traditional female roles lead to a higher prevalence of depression). Attending to the way of presentation, depressed women are more likely to exhibit �atypical� symptoms and more anxiety and somatization. There is a huge controversy regarding pharmacological treatment according to different sexes, but not psychotherapy; cognitive behavioral theory has been the most empirically demonstrated to be effective on both sexes.