If you're like most women, you probably know someone with depression or have experienced it yourself. In fact, about 20 percent of women are likely to experience depression at some point in their lifetime.¹ Although depression may occur at any time in a woman's life, the risk peaks in her 20s and drops significantly at age 60 and beyond.²

It's important to know that your experience with depression may change depending on your age. For example, treatment options and who you turn to for support may be very different if you are in your 20s compared to when you are in your 60s.

Ages & Stages offers a downloadable tool, the Ages & Stages guidebook (PDF: 566KB), which will provide you with information about depression throughout your life.

Ages & Stages is a component of the Support Partners program. Be sure to refer back to the Support Partners guidebooks as they can help identify symptoms, offer tips to manage the illness, and give advice on how to ask for, or offer, support.

A national survey was conducted as part of the Ages & Stages program in an effort to learn more about how women of different ages deal with depression.

• See highlights from the survey (PDF: 28.1KB) on depression
  
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  References:

  1. Bhatia SC, Bhatia SK. Depression in women: diagnostic and treatment considerations. Am Fam Physician. 1999;60(1):225-234, 239-240.
  2. Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, et al. The epidemiology of major depressive disorder: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). JAMA. 2003;289(23):3095-3105.