Gender and Depression: Women, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming Depression

This chapter will address both depressive disorders associated with women’s life cycle and those associated with transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people. They both share the higher prevalence of mood disorders. Depressive disorders are common mental disorders, occurring as early as 3 years of age and across all world regions. Major depression is a serious, recurrent disorder linked to diminished role functioning and quality of life, medical morbidity, and mortality. We discuss them separately, women and TGNC depression, in order to examine specific aspects and the various explanatory theories of this phenomenon. First, we will talk about the phenomenon and some definitions, to further try to explain why differences in depression prevalence arise with different gender. In its this section, the chapter reviews the empirical research on the prevalence of women’s depression, which is greater than in men, and the relevant factors that contribute to this difference. The traditional components of femininity (gender stereotypes) predisposing women to depression are examined: the importance of maintaining intimate relationships, anxiety over the possible loss of relationships, aggression inhibition, scarcity of resources for action, and culturally imposed gender roles. The last part of the chapter will review depression in trans and gender nonconforming people, focusing on the explanations of the minority model. Minority stress model (MEM) has been one of the most important and useful theories for understanding social processes – such as discrimination – that underlie negative mental health indicators in sexual and gender minority populations.