Anxiety Disorders Diagnosed More Often in Women Than Men

The Wall Street Journal:

Women are twice as likely as men to be diagnosed with anxiety disorders—and the reasons range from hormonal fluctuations to brain chemistry to upbringing to empathy, researchers theorize.

Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, chair of the department of psychology at Yale, says one reason women are more anxious is that they tend to take responsibility for other peoples’ happiness, especially their children’s and spouse’s. “It’s kind of a Catch-22, because they can’t always do anything about them,” says Dr. Nolen-Hoeksema, author of “The Power of Women” and other books.

Women also seem to have a more active “uh oh” signal in the brain that registers when they know they’ve made a mistake, according to a study published this month in the International Journal of Psychophysiology.

Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal