Wetzel J W
School of Social Work, Adelphi University, Garden City, Long Island, NY 11530.
Soc Work Health Care. 1994;19(3-4):85-108. doi: 10.1300/J010v19n03_05.
Recognizing that women are three times more likely to experience depression than are men, this paper analyzes a spectrum of leading theories of depression through a feminist lens. Commonalities across perspectives are highlighted throughout, culminating in a synthesis. Facts, assumptions and issues regarding women and their high risk status are addressed in relation to each theory, providing insight concerning the many causes for their vulnerability, as well as assessing the ways in which each perspective sets up barriers to their development and well-being. By so doing, this prevention-oriented critique brings abstract ideas about depression into the realm of women's shared reality.
