When it comes to approaches to solving problems, boys tend to think that talking isn’t particularly useful, while girls, who do prefer to talk things out, run the risk of talking themselves into depression.
When girls talk, they spend so much time dwelling on problems that:
it probably makes them feel sad and more hopeless about the problems because those problems are in the forefront of their minds [and]…makes them feel more worried about the problems, including about their consequences.
…In general, talking about problems and getting social support is linked with being healthy. [But it can be] too much of a good thing.
— Amanda Rose (2007) from the University of Missouri, Columbia, in Girls Who Complain About Their Problems At Greater Risk Of Developing Anxiety And Depression
Rose recommends that they, “engage in other activities, like sports, which can help them take their minds off their problems, especially problems that they can’t control.”