Hard to say, but there’s some evidence that hormones could play a role. One line of evidence suggesting this is that young women are at the greatest risk[1] for major depression and mental disorders starting at puberty, when prevalence of depression[2] is doubled in women compared to men for ages 14-25. However, other social factors around this age could equally play a role. What’s more confusing is that a reduction in estrogen also looks to be linked to depression. In the time right before menopause, when estrogen levels begin to decrease in an irregular fashion, the risk of depression[3] appears to increase, and studies[4] suggest that hormone replacement therapy (particularly estrogen) may prevent or alleviate depression experienced during the transition. In fact, women using oral contraceptives[5], especially the monophasic (same amount of hormones in each pill) type, reported reduced rates of depression and anxiety in comparison to non-users. Unfortunately, since researchers suspect hormonal fluctuations can influence depression, most studies tend to avoid women participants for this reason, so not much human data is available.
References
- ^Whiteford HA, Degenhardt L, Rehm J, Baxter AJ, Ferrari AJ, Erskine HE, Charlson FJ, Norman RE, Flaxman AD, Johns N, Burstein R, Murray CJ, Vos TGlobal burden of disease attributable to mental and substance use disorders: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010Lancet.(2013 Nov 9)
- ^Mental and substance use disorders in Canada
- ^Cohen LS, Soares CN, Vitonis AF, Otto MW, Harlow BLRisk for new onset of depression during the menopausal transition: the Harvard study of moods and cyclesArch Gen Psychiatry.(2006 Apr)
- ^Gordon JL, Girdler SSHormone replacement therapy in the treatment of perimenopausal depressionCurr Psychiatry Rep.(2014 Dec)
- ^Cheslack-Postava K, Keyes KM, Lowe SR, Koenen KCOral contraceptive use and psychiatric disorders in a nationally representative sample of womenArch Womens Ment Health.(2015 Feb)