[Treatment of depression: what do women need?].

OBJECTIVES

To answer the question of adequate treatment of depression in women from a scientific point of view, it is necessary to investigate the aetiology of depressive disorders as they relate to bio-genetic, mental and social factors.

METHODS

For a comprehensive understanding of depressive disorders in women three factors are analysed: (1) the severity of a depression, (2) the phenomenological description, and (3) the factors of the development of depression in the female life cycle.

RESULTS

Different treatment strategies for women can be developed on the basis of these phenomenological and psychodynamic considerations. A case study of a female patient suffering from depressive adjustment disorder who had a background history of sexual reproductive problems is presented to demonstrate characteristic factors in women which may serve as indicators for psychoanalytic focal psychotherapy.

DISCUSSION: In our opinion, psychoanalytic theory in its complexity, working with unconscious phantasies, fears concerning body integrity and relationships to others, is the most appropriate method to determine specific factors behind the pathogenesis and the persistence of depressive disorders in women.