The Experience of Symptoms of Depression inMen vsWomen Analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication

D epression is a costly and debilitating illness; approxi-mately 16 % of the US population (>32million people)will meet the criteria formajor depressive disorder in a given year.1 Typically, women are diagnosed with depres-sion twice as often asmen.This sex ratio appears in almost ev-ery setting, including Western and most non-Western com-munity studies.2-5 Most research exploring this difference focuses on explanations forwhywomen are at greater risk for developing depression. More than10years ago, analternativeapproach toexplain-ing this disparity was proposed. This literature critiques the validityof thecurrentdiagnostic criteria, arguing thatmenmay experience alternative depression symptoms.6 In part be-cause traditional depressive symptoms (eg, sadness, crying) are at oddswith societal ideals ofmasculinity,menmaybe re-luctant to report experiencing these symptoms. Second,men’s experiences of depressionmaymanifest with symptoms tha