Women and Mental Health- A Gendered and Age-Wise Perspective

INTRODUCTION: Gender is an important factor of mental health and mental illness. The patterns of psychological distress and psychiatric disorder among women are quite different than those in men. Women and men are genetically similar except that different hormones at different time and speed effect different regions of the brain resulting some brain cells to sprout faster than the others at the time of critical brain development. Psychosocial factors like poverty, hunger, malnutrition, over work, domestic violence, sexual abuse and stigma also affect women’s mental health. Differences between genders have been reported in the age of onset of symptoms, clinical features, frequency of symptoms, course, social adjustment, and long-term outcome of mental disorders. Moreover, women have a higher mean level of internalizing disorders than men. While women are at a disadvantageous position when it comes to disorders like affective disorder and Alzheimers disease, but they have a better prognosis when it comes to schizophrenia. Mental health problems starting in female children and adolescents effect the processes of adaptation and functionality into adulthood. According to WHO, depressive disorder account for 41.9% of disability among women compared to males. (29.3%). Prevalence of anxiety disorder, sexual and domestic violence and substance use are also increasing among women across different countries and different settings. CONCLUSION: A gendered perspective of psychiatry holds great promise for more effectively preventing and treating psychiatric disorders in women and it may be useful to view women’s mental health across lifespan for better understanding and management of the disorders.