The awareness about mental illnesses is still quite scant throughout the globe, and especially in countries like India. The taboo associated with mental disorders is way harder to overcome than curing the actual disease. According to conventional thinking, men face more mental health issues than women since the suicide rates are higher than women. However, deep study and detailed statistics reveal that the scenario is quite opposite. The mental health burdens of women are way more than what men go through, in their lifetime.
Gender plays a very important role in mental health. While mental health issues are important in both men and women, certain factors cannot be denied which lead to a great divide as far as one’s well-being is concerned. WHO or the World Health Organization confirms that the leading mental health problems that are seen in adults are essentially a greater mental health burden on women. These problems include dementia, depression, organic brain syndromes, etc. Several reasons lead to women having more mental health issues such as medical factors, patriarchy, physical abuse, etc.
- Social Reasons
The mental health burden on women is major because of the social factors that differentiate between a man and a woman on parameters other than the biological ones. Women have always been oppressed and have not been allowed to live a life of free will. Their aspirations have been ignored and their actions restricted. They have always been dependent on their male counterparts for their financial requirements since they were unable to sustain their livelihood.
- Medical Reasons
The medical factors might include the lower secretion of serotonin in women, which can lead to signs of depression when the circumstances are conducive. Moreover, health conditions like menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, etc, result in a lot of hormonal changes in a woman’s body. Therefore, a wide plethora of leading mental health diseases are quite common in women, when their body goes through such conditions.
- Sexual Abuse
Molestation and rape need to be mentioned in this regard as well. A major mental health burden in women throughout their lives is the burden of sexual abuse. Statistics show that 1 in 5 women in the world go through rape attempts or are rape survivors. Such people often suffer from PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a mental health disorder that occurs due to the trauma attached to such incidents. With numbers as heartbreaking as these, it’s not surprising that mental health illnesses are more commonly found in women.
It’s time we start acknowledging these issues and treat them effectively, instead of brushing them off and normalizing them. Mental health is as important as one’s physical health if not more and it needs to be catered to. Not everybody is comfortable talking about their issues and whenever you feel you can help someone simply by listening to them or being there for them, don’t step back.