My point I'm trying to make is that I think that the article that you linked is more about the rate of anti-depressant usage among women in England than it is about women being more depressed. (Although, one could say that women are more depressed just because the numbers say so. No one was studying depression among women during the 1950's, so we can only compare numbers today to when studies started.)

Here is a study about the rate of depression among stay-at-home moms:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/154685/stay-home-moms-...

Depression among women, and men, is not dependent upon whether or not she is staying home or working outside the home. Depression happens for many different reasons. A stay-at-home mom can have stressors in her life just like a working mother has stressors in her life.

For the record, I am not against women staying home. I think that families need to make decisions based upon what works for them.

Lori, I did not miss that. The article also states at the very beginning:

"In fact, one of the main reasons behind this astonishing rise in antidepressant use is that women are increasingly being parked on these powerful and potentially dangerous drugs for want of anything else to help them with the emotional distress that led them to visit their doctor."

Doctors need to be open to other alternatives to drugs in order to treat depression. It's not that women are more depressed, it's that they're now, more than ever, willing to talk about it with their doctors. And, doctors are more than willing to prescribe pills. The article talks about how women in the late 40's had to go through so much - the Blitz, working while their husbands were off to war, rationing of food and energy, and sex discrimination. They main difference between how women dealt with life then was that they had family close by to help out when needed. They also had a strong support group of women that they could talk to. Otherwise, that entire generation barely talked about anything that dealt with depression or abuse. Today, we are much more open to talking about it, which is good, but many times women do not live close by family for the extra support.

Anyone who has basic critical thinking skills will be able to read the article that you linked to women and depression and understand that women are NOT more depressed today than they ever have been. The article clearly states that all women undergo up and down mood swings - it is the nature of being human. The reason why it appears that women are more depressed than ever is because doctors are more willing to prescribe antidepressants. And, while sometimes medication is necessary, it isn't always needed for mild depression. The article clearly states that cognitive behavioral therapy and different alternative therapies are as helpful as medication, but doctors are less likely to suggest these forms of treatment because there is big money in pharmaceuticals.

So, no, women are not more depressed because they are working and not staying home. You cannot make this assumption based off of a 5 year-old study, especially when the study did not factor in working women verses stay-at-home women. I'm sure that there are as many depressed stay-at-home mothers as there are working mothers.

There isn't much more that I can add to what has already been said so well. I have two teens at home. I respect their privacy to their personal items such as a diary. However, if I were to start having any inclination that something was not right or was off with them, I would see if I could get some answers to that nagging feeling. Otherwise, I respect their privacy.

Going along with this, has anyone seen the documentary Mortified Nation on Netflix? It's about people who read their teen diaries to an audience. I watched it this last weekend and it was touching and hilarious.
http://mortifiednation.com/

I read an article about Vinnie Myers a while ago and was so impressed by what he is doing. His attitude and compassion for helping women regain their confidence is admirable.

This past season's reality show, Ink Master, featured an episode of women who had mastectomies. While the artists did not do nipple tattoos, they did some beautiful tattoos around the breasts. It's great seeing women being able to embrace their bodies after experiencing breast cancer.

My husband and daughter have read all of the books and are regular watchers of TWD. They keep telling me I would like it because it really "focuses on relationships." I call BS on that! I usually sit in the same area doing something else while they watch the show and listen to their groans over the gross parts. Doesn't sound appealing to me.