Women vs. Men and Anxiety

[PanicPhobia]

So if you read up on anxiety disorders and panic attacks, you see that it affects twice as many women as men. As a male, this makes me feel sort of emasculated (lol).

So I wonder, is this really true or is it a form of selection bias? In other words maybe it's just that men are more reluctant to seek treatment and thus are under reported in the "statistics?"

If that's not it and if more women truly do have anxiety when compared to men, then it seems to me that hormones must be at play here.

Does anyone have any insight on this?

[Lee Grant Irons]

No additional insight. However, I am a male and I have a thyroid condition, so I know what you mean by emasculated, LOL.

Hormone-wise, women go through menstruation cycles followed by a sudden decline (menopause), whereas men just go through a slow decline (andropause). So this cycling could be a factor in female anxiety. The hormone and electrolyte system is a complicated thing that we still have not completely figured out. However, I think selection bias could have much to do with the skewed statistics.