Typically they arrive at the office of a primary care physician complaining of physical symptoms. According to an article in Medscape, health care professionals miss at least one half of those with depression in primary care, even when symptoms are severe. In all, fewer than one third of depressed women get any help. Perhaps things would be different if women were to rally around depression and embrace it as a woman's issue, with the same kind of attention they give to breast cancer. Suppose, for example, that for every public announcement about breast self-exams and mammograms there was one about depressive awareness.
Depression is treatable, after all.
Most of the suffering that women endure, and by extension their families, is unnecessary. One should print that out in Pearl Harbor type and plaster it across every health clinic, communty center, and school in the country. Such is the stigma of depression. On June 2, the former Second Lady related her bout with depression on Oprah to an appreciative audience, and a few days later hosted a White House Conference on Mental Health. Thank you, Mrs Gore.