Anxiety Disorders Among Women: A Female Lifespan Approach

Abstract

Anxiety symptoms may present differently between women and men, and at different points in the female lifespan. The female lifespan includes distinct epochs of hormonal function, including puberty, the premenstruum, in some women pregnancy or postpartum, and the menopausal transition. These stages give rise to important treatment considerations when treating anxiety in women. When making assessments, the clinician should consider reproductive events and hormonal status, as well as sex differences in anxiety presentation. This review is structured to: 1) Define major epochs of the female lifespan, 2) Provide a brief summary of the major anxiety disorders, with a focus on prevalence and presentation in the context of sex differences and at points in the female lifespan, 3) Describe potential biopsychosocial underpinnings of anxiety disorders among women, 4) Provide guidelines for assessment and differential diagnosis, and 5) Describe treatment options with attention to reproductive events such as pregnancy.

Association between Sexual Satisfaction and Depression and Anxiety in Adolescents and Young Adults

“…Combined with this result, no differences were observed between adolescent boys and girls and young adults. This finding is supported by previous studies [30,31], although other research has suggested the opposite [56]. Nevertheless, these conclusions are surely influenced by social and cultural factors, while there are no comparative studies regarding these variables among cultures, differences were found in regard to sexual development across countries and cultures [1].…”

GAD-7 and PHQ-9 measurement of perinatal anxiety and depression in women with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in Yaounde, Cameroon

“…The postpartum period is more likely to cause anxiety in women compared to the general population. 32 Using the GAD-7 questionnaire, we obtained a 79.7% overall prevalence rate. In the literature, the prevalence of anxiety in the postpartum period is variable, but it is higher in the presence of complications of pregnancy and childbirth.…”

Ketamine effects on anxiety and fear-related behaviors: current literature evidence and new findings

“…Although is not completely understood whether ketamine has sex-specific effects (Chang et al, 2018;Herzog et al, 2019), some evidence suggests more pronounced biochemical and behavioral effects of ketamine in females (Carrier and Kabbaj, 2013;Dossat et al, 2018;Franceschelli et al, 2015;Guarraci et al, 2018;Saland and Kabbaj, 2018;Thelen et al, 2019Thelen et al, , 2016. It is noteworthy that women are twice more likely than men to experience an anxiety disorder over their lifespan (Bandelow and Michaelis, 2015;Craske et al, 2017;Hantsoo and Epperson, 2017;Remes et al, 2016). Altogether, these data highlight the importance of filling this gap, which means to produce further evaluation of ketamine effects on anxiety/fear-related behavior in females.…”