Moms who work but keep unrealistic expectations about family and work expectatcions and do not cut themselves some slack are more likely to have worse bouts of depression compared to their more relaxed counterparts.

The survey involved 1,600 women in the US who are married who had children and are enlisted on a survey called National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

The women were asked for their opinions when they were between 22 thru 30 years old about outdated statements about family and work and how women balance their responsibilities. The level of depression among these women were measured when they reached forty years old.

The study revealed that women who worked part time or full time had lower risks to suffer from depression compared to moms who are stay-at-home parents. Some symptoms of depression includes lack of concentration, being sad and restless, loneliness, problem sleeping, or having difficulties starting the day.

The study drives at the mismatch of the expectations of women on their abilities to balance work and family. It also points out that women who work still manage most of the household chores and take care of their kids.

The study also points out that women who have realistic work-family goals and expectations are most likely to end up with husbands who will help them with the family responsibilities. The realistic expectations also help these women to be less depressed.

Having the supermom complex will not help address the issues but delegation of work and letting your family help will help ease the depression.

In the United States alone, 15 million people suffer from some form of depression every year according to the National Institute for Mental Health. Most of this patients are treated with drugs rather than being guided through talk therapies. About 50% of this population does not improve even with regular intake of anti-depressants.

Instead of the usual approach of switching to other anti-depressants if the first attempt does not work, the proponents of the study evaluated the effects of talk therapy to these people suffering from major depression.

A randomized trial was done with subjects randomly chosen to receive only anti-depressants and another group taking medicine in combination with talk therapy. The results reveal that talk therapy patients improved significantly compared to those who were only taking medicines.

The study also pointed out that not all people can get access to talk therapy because  of the price. Taking prescribed anti-depressants is a lot cheaper compared to receiving talk therapy. Monthly averages for fluoxetine only cost $19, sertraline goes for $26, while citalopram costs $35. In the short term, talk therapy would cost more. Another issue will be the lack of insurance coverage that does not have a tight belt on receiving sufficient help for a better mental health.

In the long-term, talk therapy is really worth the dollars. Talk therapies may only last for several months while those who benefit from anti-depressant drugs may need to take them for a life time.

There are a lot of clinical evidences that points out that depression makes a person more susceptible to cardiovascular diseases. Although there are studies that arrived with some facts that genes play a major role in making a person at risk for developing heart diseases.

The twins study had covered an approximately, or more than 1,200 middle-aged men, makes out a little conclusion of how genetic make-up can bring cardiovascular diseases, and this study also arrived to the fact that depression takes a major part in the pathophysiology of the disease.

Jeffrey Scherrer of Washington University and of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in St. Louis is the head of the study. He stated that heart diseases are not only brought by depression, but also by diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol.

The twins in the study gave way to unique methods of knowing how genetic make-up can influence one’s health. Identical twins are known to share 100% of their genes, while fraternal twins have 50% of shared genes. The study of Scherrer involved identical and fraternal twins.

But according to Francois Lesperance, a psychiatrist at the University of Montreal, there is no exact evidence that will point out that treating depression would make a person have fewer chances of heart attacks. Lesperance pioneered researches that link depression to cardiovascular problems.