October 16, 2012

• Women’s Mental Health

  Women’s Mental Health needs feels like it should be a political issue to me.  I recently had this experience: when asking my very young, male psychiatrist about the impact of PMS and perimenopause on my depression, he turned to two rather large reference texts on his shelves.  In one of them, there was one sentence and another one paragraph, essentially saying that Menopause is a “difficult” time of life.  I respect this doctor for admitting where his knowledge ends, but it occurs to me, how do degrees get conferred without this knowledge?  I’m especially aghast when the majority of mental health clients are women.  But let’s check that out:

  Women’s mental health: The Facts

  • Depressive disorders account for close to 41.9% of the disability from neuropsychiatric disorders among women compared to 29.3% among men.
  • Leading mental health problems of the elderly are depression, organic brain syndromes and dementias. A majority are women.
  • An estimated 80% of 50 million people affected by violent conflicts, civil wars, disasters, and displacement are women and children.
  • Lifetime prevalence rate of violence against women ranges from 16% to 50%.
  • At least one in five women suffer rape or attempted rape in their lifetime.

  For a complete referenced discussion of these issue please see the following document:

  • Gender disparities in mental health
    pdf, 112kb

  • 4:43 pm
  • 2 Comments