ABSTRACT
Certainly teenage girls more often than teenage boys describe themselves in terms of what they feel rather than in terms of what they do.1 This includes more often describing themselves as dispirited and depressed. Perhaps girls more often talk about being depressed because they anticipate more adverse, depressing-making experiences as adults. They learn at an early age that, as women, they are likely to be expected to sacrifice and subordinate their needs to those of others, both at home and at work. Writing generally about women’s psychological ills, Freud long ago noted that, whereas unhappiness in men and boys is often due to inward division and fear of losing their masculinity and being castrated, unhappiness in women is often due to fear of losing the love and closeness of others.
