Women showing higher levels of depression than men in lockdown

This presents a bleak picture after the celebrations of International Women’s Day, and suggests women must continue to battle for change, as well as taking greater steps to improve their mental health and stave off this propensity to anxiety and depression which has been so exacerbated by life under lockdown, financial uncertainties, home schooling, the isolating impact of social distancing and the sheer stress of keeping family life afloat in the Covid era.

There are myriad reasons why women have been more profoundly affected by an increase in mental malaise than men and these factors should not come as a surprise, such as the reality that women do not have parity with men when it comes to power and status.

Women are much more likely than men to live in poverty, causing concerns such as uncertainty about the future and decreased access to community and health care resources. These issues can cause feelings of negativity, low self-esteem and lack of control over life.

Often women work outside the home and still handle home responsibilities. Many women deal with the challenges of single parenthood, such as working multiple jobs to make ends meet. Also, women may be caring for their children while also caring for sick or older family members.

Women who were emotionally, physically or sexually abused as children or adults are more likely to experience depression than those who weren’t abused and again, women are more likely than men to experience sexual abuse and women with depression often have other mental health conditions that need treatment as well, such as eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, and drug or alcohol misuse.

To give some idea of the inequality of stats leading to increased female mental illness we need to remember ONS evidence outlining that during September and early October 2020, women spent 64% more time on unpaid household work than men.

At the beginning of the UK’s first lockdown in March 2020, women spent 55% more time than men on unpaid childcare.

Additionally, a significantly greater proportion of women (67%) than men (52%) homeschooled a school-age child in late January and early February (13 January and 7 February 2021).

In April and early May 2020, around one in three women (34%) reported that their well-being was negatively affected by homeschooling a school age child compared with only one in five men (20%).

At the start of the pandemic, average anxiety scores increased to the highest levels recorded since the ONS began collecting personal well-being data. Women reported significantly higher anxiety than men at almost every point between 20 March 2020 and 7 February 2021, continuing the pre-pandemic trend.

Analysis found that loneliness was the strongest driver of anxiety in March and April 2020. Women were 1.3 times more likely to report loneliness than men during this time-period.

Interim Mental Health Champion and Professor at the University of Ulster, Siobhan O’Neill, acknowledges that the incidence of female anxiety and depression has increased under lockdown, but notes that even before this situation of virtual mass house arrest women were already twice as likely to present with mental illness than men, who as we know are all too often curtailed by social stereotypes from speaking out about psychological distress or to seek help when they need it.

She said: “Women are more likely to get depressed whereas men are more likely to present with physical symptoms or emotions like anger and outbursts.

“Women are under more stress and pressure than men at the minute because of the pandemic. They are most likely to take on different roles and responsibilities in the domestic setting, cooking and home schooling children for example. Aside from childcare responsibilities then many of them have a day job, perhaps working remotely, which can make for a chaotic work-life balance.

“There is no biological reason why gender should have an effect on an individual’s chances of developing depression, but socio-economic roles have something to do with why women present more with depressive symptoms. Women are more likely to be less well paid, often, as we know, face discrimination in the workplace, and have been more frequently made redundant or put on furlough during lockdown than men.

“Women were also more likely to be care workers on the frontline, interacting with possible cases of Covid and all the anxiety that brings.

“The research we have seen shows that those looking after children at home had higher levels of depression.”

But though men avail of mental health services less and are less likely to be diagnosed with mental pathologies, they are more likely to die by suicide than women and statistically have been more likely to die of Covid.

“Women are less likely to die by suicide because they tend to be able to reach out to a broader network of social connections and are more open to being emotionally expressive and vulnerable than men who are often reluctant to seek help for psychological distress because they think it’s the manly thing to do. But in fact, this disengagement from mental health services is patently lethal,” adds Siobhan.

“But, to repeat, even before lockdown, women were consistently presenting with higher levels of mental distress than men.”

Siobhan believes that the pandemic and lockdown has led to a nationwide increased awareness of how important it is to safguard your mental health, with an estimated 20% increase in people availing of mental health services available online such as talking therapy.

She continued: “Loneliness and social isolation are important factors that can produce anxiety and depression. We need to stay connected with others in order to feel safe and to keep our minds focused and engaged. We are designed to live in communities, in families, in groups or as members of a team in the workplace and so much of this connectivity is not possible under lockdown, meaning mental equilibrium is taking a hit. The problem can also be when people self-isolate because they are feeling the pressure and stress of all this and fear others will judge them because they are struggling. But we need to send out the clear message that if you are experiencing anxiety and/or depression there are services you can avail of and medications that can be prescribed by your GP.

“To reiterate, if you are experiencing anxiety and depression then please make an appointment with your GP in the first instance.

“That should be your first step. Referrals to psychiatric professionals have actually gone down, not because people are not depressed or anxious but because many are afraid to visit surgeries because of the risk of Covid infection.”

New research by Lisa Spantig and Ben Etheridge, economists at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, also suggests women are experiencing greater difficulties with their mental health than men because they are more profoundly advsersely affected by the social isolation lockdown has made the status quo, as Siobhan as so succinctly outlined.

Etheridge said:“Women are more likely to report multiple numbers of close friends,” he said. The ban, until recently, on meeting people outside your own household has led to a “decline infemale mental wellbeing especially”. Visit dcovidwellbeingni.info and follow the five key steps towards combatting depression under lockdown.