Some mental health issues occur more frequently in women and therefore can play an important role in their overall health status. Although men experience higher autism rates, early stages of schizophrenia, antisocial personality disorder, and alcoholism, more prevalent mental health disorders in women include:
Women’s Health Issues:
- Depression: Women are twice as likely to get depression as men (12% of women to 6% of men)
- Anxiety and specific phobias: Men and women are both equally affected by mental health issues like obsessive-compulsive disorder and social phobias. But studies show that women are twice as likely to develop panic disorder, anxiety, and specific phobias as men.
- Post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD): Females are twice as likely to suffer from PTSD after a traumatic event.
- Suicide attempts: Men die by suicide four times as often as women, but women attempt suicide two to three times more frequently than men.
- Eating disorders: Women account for 85% or more in all cases of anorexia and bulimia, and around 65% of cases of binge-eating disorder.
Women’s Symptoms Are Different:
Although men and women can be diagnosed with the same type of mental illness disorder, they can develop different symptoms from each other and therefore a different kind of treatment will be assigned.
For example, women who suffer from schizophrenia are more likely to experience depression and impaired thinking, while men with schizophrenia are more likely to become apathetic and socially isolated. These women usually respond more quickly to antipsychotic drugs and need less personal care. They also show further mood symptoms, which can hinder the diagnosis process and may include a prescription for mood stabilizers.
Why the Gender Differences?
- Biological influences: Hormones and genes can have a huge impact on our mood thus resulting in depression, moodiness, and neurological disorders. Hormone estrogen may have beneficial effects on the brain shielding it and preserving the structure of neurons in the brain that protects against severe symptoms a woman can go through and other forms of psychological diseases.
- On the other hand, it can cause women to develop less serotonin, which is thought to be a mood stabilizer, and thus synthesizes it more slowly than males which could account for higher levels of depression.
- Socio-cultural influences: Due to the presence of gender inequality in our society when it comes to power, dependency, positions, and other socio-cultural challenges, women are more affected by this and tend to often get diagnosed with depression and other severe disorders.
- When women are expected to be the primary caregivers to both children and elderlies and a source of love and affection, their lives can be more stressful and tiring.
- Girls hitting puberty and showing dissatisfaction with their bodies or experiencing sexual assault or rape can cause severe depression and panic disorders.
- Behavioral influences: Some believe that women are more inclined than men to report psychological problems and that therapists are more likely to diagnose a woman with depression and offer treatment with mood-altering medicines. Although their reporting options may be different from men, they mostly address their issues to a general practitioner, whilst men prefer to speak to a mental health specialist about them.
Reference: https://www.everydayhealth.com/womens-health/mental-health-issues-in-women.aspx
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