Your husband deploys. You find yourself worrying about him, where he is, and what he is doing. Your body aches from the sleepless nights. You feel drained and find yourself being snippy with your children, friends, family, or co-workers. You mind is constantly going to stay on task. For many of us, we read this and think, “Oh, she’s talking about the cycles of deployment!” But, really these are also signs of anxiety and depression.
There are studies that suggest women experience depression & anxiety up to twice as often as men. Hormonal factors may contribute to the increase rate of depression; such as menstrual cycle changes, pregnancy, miscarriages, postpartum period, pre-menopause, and menopause. Women may also face unique stressors such as responsibilities both at work and home, single parenthood, and caring for children and aging parents. What is surprising to me is that this study is talking about your every day civilian woman. If you read through it again and think of the wife you know that had her last child while her husband was deployed, or the one who is raising four children under the age of 6 on her own, it takes on new meaning. We go through these “moments” while dealing with deployments, PCSing, and just every day military life. If a woman with out those factors is at risk, just think where that puts us. Continue reading →
