Science is well known that the prevalence of depression in women is higher than in men. And researchers from the University of California at Davis have found out why this happens.
There are a sufficient number of methods for the treatment of depressive disorders, but, unfortunately, they do not help everyone. It is known that women are more likely to experience depression, but until recently it was not clear what causes this feature. Moreover, women's depression, as a rule, is harder to treat than men's. Scientists have observed how a special part of the brain, the nucleus accumbens, is affected during depression. It is important for the processes of motivation, reaction to useful experience and all sorts of social connections, all of which are affected during depression.
Smokers are twice as likely to develop schizophrenia and depression
Past analyzes of the nucleus accumbens have shown that various genes are switched on and off in women with depression that are somehow not activated in men. These changes can trigger depression, and now the researchers looked at lab mice in which females showed more depressive behavior than males. This rodent model showed that negative social interactions altered gene expression in female mice, and similar patterns are observed in women with depression.
Scientists explain why women are more likely to experience depression
Scientists succeeded in identifying a key mediator of behavior in the nucleus accumbens that is associated with depression. And this discovery theoretically allows in the future to develop drugs that act on this mediator, which will help in the treatment of women's depression. More targeted therapies tend to be more effective. (READ MORE) 
UC Davis
Medicine
one of the universities in system of the University of California, located in Davis