The National Institute of Mental Health reminds us that, “Major depression and dysthymia affect twice as many women as men. This two-to-one ratio exists regardless of racial and ethnic background or economic status. The same ratio has been reported in ten other countries all over the world." Anyone else find it especially, uh, depressing that one of the few areas in which women of all ethnicities are on the same playing field is that we are uniformly more depressed than men?

Why shouldn’t we be? Between our universally lower social status affecting how we are able to live our lives and the variety of hormones and chemicals that cruise through our bodies and impact our undervalued brains, I sometimes find it amazing that there are any women out there who aren’t constantly depressed. It doesn’t help that an illness that affects more women than men is also highly misunderstood and remains stigmatized today. Aren’t those cheerful thoughts?

This is an illness that I have struggled with in the past and probably will in the future. I have had such debilitating depression at times that I didn’t leave my room for days, just laying in bed staring at the ceiling, wishing I were dead, but not motivated enough to do anything about it. Fortunately, it is usually not this bad for me or most women. We can go about our daily lives and function quite well, even if we feel like shit under our charming smiles and snarky jokes. I might write about depression more often, but it is a topic that is, quite frankly, too depressing and causes me to fall into a little funk. I think a lot of other usually brave and outspoken women follow this safe path of avoidance as well, lest we wind up like Brooke Shields getting yelled at on TV by a man who believes that he can buy salvation with the aliens. (Yes, craziness is a relative term, isn’t it?)

LA Walker at My Bleeding Pen, however, has an important reminder on her blog that this time of year is the hardest for many people. She presents excellent facts on depression, and a very helpful chart of ways to reach out to depressed people without offending us/them. (For example, I would think it is common sense to not say, “What’s your problem?” but I have been proven wrong many times, including by loved ones who mean well, but still manage to fuck up the ways they express their concern.) Personally, it is when the excitement of the holidays ends and all that's left in front of me is another year of the same old bullshit that my friend Depression makes its annual visit, but that's another story.

Actually, I feel as though a number of my favorite bloggers are dispirited these days, so I am pledging to leave extra nice comments over the next few weeks. That’s the holiday spirit and all that crap. Ho ho ho! Who’s with me?

Suzanne usually doesn’t have a kind word to spare at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants