Women and Mental illness
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It seems Women are making the news more and more these days with their struggle with mental illness. Susan Boyle is a recent example. Trying desperately to win Britain's Got Talent she had a breakdown that led to hospitalization.
Bonnie Sweeten, the runaway wife, faking her own abduction then going to Disney World. True there hasn't been a publicly made diagnosis about her.. but there soon may be.
More recently there was a gruesome news story involving the abduction of a pregnant woman by Korena Roberts in Oregon. Ms Roberts called the 911 in an attempt to to have the child revived. She tried to pass off the child as her own, stating she had just given birth. In all actuality the biological mother lay dead in the home's crawl space.
Are woman more susceptable to Mental illness? Let's see what the experts have to say.
A report by the Department of Health and Human Resources states that "nearly half of all Americans suffer from a mental illness at one point in their lives." A chart comparing nearly all mental illness gives women the edge in almost all areas except for substance abuse and Impulse control. Anxiety and Depression were the two mental illnesses with the highest percentage rat among women.
Half of all mental illnesses begin before the age 14. three fourths of mental illnesses are prevalent by the age of 20.
When specifically looking for who is affected more by mental illness, no data was found to support that either men or women suffer more. I did find a study completed in California that suggests men and women do have different challenges when dealing with Mental illness. for example women are more likely to suffer from depression and major depression then men do. Women are also twice as likely to suffer form post traumatic stress disorder or other anxiety disorders. According to this study women are much more likely to develop an eating disorder than men. This study was completed by the California Institute for Mental Health. A link has been included below
It seems that gender does play some part in a woman's mental illness. The important thing is to take care of it when it occurs. Listen to your family and friends when they notice a difference in you. There are many many resources out there if you take advantage of them...
Resources
There are plenty of on line resources for Women. I suggest to go to the US Department of Health and Human Resources website and look at the hand books they have developed. The handbook goes through the stages of life and explains the symptoms of the illnesses for that life stage. The link is below
- NIMH · Health & Outreach
Lists NIMH information resources for mental health topics and outreach efforts. - http://www.cimh.org/downloads/gender_matters.pdf
- womenshealth.gov - 1-800-994-9662
The most reliable and current women's health resource with information on more than 800 topics including fitness, nutrition, pregnancy, breastfeeding, mental health and much more!
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Comments
Interesting conclusions about incidence of women vs. men. I sincerely hope that it's not due to women having a narrower definition of "socially allowable behaviors" than men, so that it's easier to slip outside of the lines.
With respect to depression specifically, that makes sense. Depression is anger turned inward. Whereas men are trained and allowed to express anger outwardly, women have to "suck it up and stuff it." When you internalize your anger it turns to depression.
Frieda, interesting point about women seeking treatment more. As I was reading the information I found that culture affects if a woman seeks treatment. One specific topic I remember was about Hispanic women and how they are to keep family first. This has prevented many from seeking treatment.
I also believe mens mental health issues are serious as well. Men tend to try to keep things to themselves however, Men are more likely to commit suicide than women.
Mighty mom, good point about socially allowable behaviors vs being labeled with a mental illness.
Depression too can be caused by various things such as domestic violence and Post traumatic Stress Disorder. This may be also why Depression ranks higher in women.
Thanks for comments!
My arms still carry the scars of my battle with my demons. It has been a long road. The worst thing you can do is hide away. Get help! Good hub!
It's sometimes easier said than done to get help...... I could talk on this subject for hours, having lost a sister to this terrible illness, and suffering more than enough myself..... It is not always the people that should be helping i.e. medical people that give you the most help. I came on to hub pages extremely depressed, after the loss of my mum and lots of other things. I found other peoples comments, and understanding on here much more helpful than would be experts, who make me feel like sh## . They only really want to help if you have lots of money. I found this hub helpful thankyou so much, and the more open people are about this awful thing called depression the easier it's gets for us all..... Brenda x
This topic is deeper than we usually delve, but it is also a reality that U.S. Health Depts do not grasp, nor approach with the truth to effectively manage or comprehend. Too often its mind to mind and not heart to heart.
As the economy grows worse mental illness will become more prevelant. Hopefully the mental health centers will be prepared? Government funding is not adequately provided for the centers or psychiatric hospitals ( from my experience anyway!)
"Half of all mental illnesses begin before the age 14. thre fourths of mental illnesses are prevelant by the age of 20."
Just wanted to point out the spelling error - "thre".
Lil Lambert.... I had a lot of typos in this hub! Thanks for pointing them out!
Wow. Women suffer from depression more than men. That is true. Men suffer more from addictions to avoid the feeling of depression.
- Newborn dies, mother found dead in crawl space; woman charged - CNN.com
A 28-year-old Oregon woman has been charged with murder after the body of a new mother was found in the crawl space of her home.
Frieda Babbley says:
6 months ago
I wonder though if the results are necessarily accurate. Do you think it could be that women are more likely to seek treatment, or that men's mental issues are overlooked as gender or personality quirks? Interesting topic.