Gender Differences in Depressive Symptoms Among Inpatients

Objective: The aim of this research was to determine whether statistically significant differences exist in the clinical presentation (symptoms) of depressive disorders in men and women and, if so, what are they reflected in.

Material and Method: The study included 150 patients between the ages of 18 and 65 who have been hospitalized due to a major depressive disorder according to the diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV classification, at the Psychiatric Clinic in Novi Sad, Serbia. Patients with comorbid physical or other mental disorders were not included. Within the research process, during the first day of hospitalization, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale with 21 items was administered, while 12 other symptoms of depression (specific quality of the depression, pessimism, stability of depression to environmental influences, ideas of impoverishment, worthlessness, blaming of others, social isolation, anhedonia, monoideism, self-pity, dependence on others, and manipulativeness) were assessed using the BPRS, MADRS, SADS, SADD and AMPDP scales by the examining psychiatrist. A t-test for significance of differences in the age structure of men and women was performed in the statistical analysis, which indicated that this is a homogeneous group, while the structure of gender differences in the clinical picture of depression was examined by discriminant analysis, in which gender was an independent variable, while the examined depressive symptoms were the dependent variables.

Results: The results showed a statistically significant structure of gender differences in the clinical picture of depression, which is reflected in the existence of two types of depression, hypothetically called: existential depression characteristic to men and anxious-somatic depression characteristic to women.

Conclusion: The determined existence of gender differences in depressive symptoms and the clinical presentation of depression in this and other studies, as well as the data on double the prevalence of depression in women and the gender differences in the responses to antidepressant medications, are the facts that point out the need for a gender-specific approach to the evaluation and treatment of depression.