There are more studies being done now in medicine looking at how the same disease can manifest differently in man and woman, due to hormones, socialization and other factors. One study e.g. found that the typical Hollywood “pain in the chest” for heart attack is typical for men, but for women “pain in the stomach” is typical, which means that a lot of women seek help too late or not at all because they look for the wrong symptom.
Similarly, another study found that about half of men who had been “diagnosed” with anger were actually suffering from depression, but it manifested not in lethargy etc, but in angry outbursts.
Part of that might be socialisation, that is, societies attitudes shaping expected and allowed responses. Men are not allowed to sit around moping, but being angry is acceptable. Women are allowed to be moody because “hormones”, but being angry is unacceptable.
Esp. for the US, I would suspect that more men than women own guns, (and depression may partly manifest or occur together with paranoia, prompting the purchase of guns) so suicide is easier.
Also, all studies about “getting prevention” I’ve read say that multiple times more women than men go to a doctor for preventive care, or seeking treatment before a small problem becomes a big problem. The usual hyptothesis for that is that men don’t want to acknowledge any weakness (because of social images about being strong), and if they don’t know they are sick, they aren’t weak. (Irrational, but that’s how most humans function).
From what I heard, it’s not western society, but people in general. In previous years, the WHO tried to point out how many peoiple world-wide, and esp. in developing countries, die from complications of air pollution (asthma, lung cancer and similar) because of all that coal and wood burning and dirty cars.
But recently, they have started to point out how depression affects IIRC 20% of population - regardless of society.
Now, different circumstances may mean that if you suffer from depression and lay in bed, you will quickly die of hunger in a primitve society. Or different cultural values can mean that if you are lethargic, you won’t be diagnosed with depression, but with “being possessed by demons or having had a curse put upon you” and the local shaman/ priest may do some ceremony. Depending on how good a natural therapist the priest is, a lenghty ritual might come close to western therapy and actually improve.
In a discussion about Freud and current state of psychology, one article said that about 1/3 of all diseases improve of their own even if untreated, so maybe you get better despite the ceremony being useless.
Or the placebo effect, which can account up to 40%, kicks in.
But media won’t call it depression if your culture calls it different.
What our society can decide to do - or decide to deny - is to provide low-key access to mental health providers = doctors and therapists, by having enough available (not waiting 3 months for a free place), having them affordable, and having them qualified enough. (Plus if necessary, the right medication, although apparently there’s a ton of not-known in that regard that requires more research).
