In
2010 my cousin was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, she was 18
and her life was changed forever. The doctors didn’t know why she
suddenly developed this mental illness, but they gave several
possible reasons, one was her being bullied at army training
(traumatic experiences can trigger schizophrenia in people
susceptible to it) another was her cannabis usage which doctors
stated that smoking everyday increased her chances of developing
schizophrenia (along with anyone especially teenagers) that coupled
with her father also having the illness we were told it just a matter
of time. My heart broke for her, but I was also extremely grateful
that I knew her before the disorder took her, though we still talk
almost every day I can’t pretend that she’s not a completely
different person now, incapable of having that close bond we once
had.
Such
a serious mental illness so close to home got me thinking about all
women and mental health including my own – I’ve lived with
depression, self-harm and eating disorders for many years and
although not as serious as my cousins diagnosis I can’t deny that
my own mental health problems have had a detrimental impact on my
life and though its hard even admitting it to myself as I have
attached stigma to my own mental health problems it’s a necessity
that I’m honest with you reader and in turn we are all honest
with ourselves.
Though
we’d like to believe that in 2018 the stigma attached to mental
illness isn’t what it used to be, it seems we’re still hesitant
to ask for help we don’t want people to think we can’t deal with
everything 24/7, admitting that life isn’t always as perfect as an
Instagram picture can be extremely difficult. And with women being
constantly bombarded with the notion of ‘you can have it all’ the
modern-day pressures of women not only working full time but also
being a mother, home-maker and keeping a social life, the expectation
of being able to be all these things has seen a huge rise in mental
health issues and women struggling to cope.
Statistics
by the mental
health foundation
found
that in England, women
are more likely than men
to
have a common mental health problem
and are
almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety disorders
along with this 10%
of
mothers in the UK have mental health problems at any given time
compared to 6% of fathers. One
in five
(19.1%)
women had CMD symptoms, compared with one
in eight
men
(12.2%) and its affecting us at work as well - Women in full-time
employment are nearly twice
as likely
to
have a common mental health problem as full-time employed men (19.8%
vs 10.9%).
It
has been argued that the reason why women suffer more with mental
illness is simply because they are more “emotional” than men
which is laughable as it is preposterous, genetic gender differences
and hormonal issues have also been named as a possibility. All
leading to a woman’s emotional side as being the main factor but
this is far from the truth – as women are more than likely to talk
about their feelings and struggles rather than try and ignore them
its far more likely that women are much more aware and well quipped
to face mental health difficulties and therefore more likely to seek
treatment. (One in four women will seek treatment for depression at
some point, compared to only one in 10 men). Implicit bias is a sort
of bias of which a person is not aware, i.e. a Doctor. Some research
suggests that doctors have an implicit bias in favour of labelling
women's symptoms as emotional, while taking men's symptoms more
seriously for instance a woman who reports chronic pain to her doctor
might be labelled as depressed. A man might be referred to a physical
therapist or pain clinic.
So,
what is to blame?
Though
there are many factors that determine our state of mind at any given
time
past
(or present) trauma has been associated with numerous mental
illnesses, most notably post-traumatic stress disorder. Trauma
is common
among
women, with half of all women experiencing some form of trauma during
their lives. One in four women have faced an attempted or completed
sexual assault, and one in three reports being abused by a domestic
partner. Thus the challenges of gender discrimination, gendered
violence, and mistreatment of women directly work to undermine
women's mental health.
This
in turn has found some women to report receiving inadequate or
insensitive care in response to trauma, and research suggests this
can also play a role in the development of mental illness. For
example, some women report being blamed for their own rape or abuse.
Others find that street harassment, violence on television, and
similar cultural issues aggravate their symptoms after a traumatic
event.
Sadly,
discrimination of any kind can increase women's exposure to stress,
stress is a well-known predictor of mental illness with many of us
living in a constant stressful environment. Research has consistently
shown that women do more than their fair share of housework and
childcare, even when they work full-time. And none of us are
strangers to the knowledge of women being continually paid less than
men for the same work – constantly having to work even harder to
achieve the same credit which is still unattainable in many
instances. On top off this many women worry about workplace sexual
harassment and discrimination. Each of these common challenges that
you and I and many other women have likely faced more than once are
highly stressful and can conspire to tear down women's coping skills
as well as self-esteem.
Now
let us also tear down the common misconception as stated earlier –
hormonal behaviour. It's a common belief that oestrogen
is
a “female” hormone
while
testosterone is the “male” hormone but both men and women have
each hormone in their bloodstreams, but in different quantities based
on age, health, and an assortment of other factors. Some research
suggests that hormonal differences between men and women may play a
role in mental illness but as hormone levels change rapidly
throughout our lives (both men and women) it cannot be a significant
factor in mental conditions. One hormone that is known to affect both
male and female moods however, is serotonin, basically our built in
happy pill. Serotonin deficiency has been implicated in a host of
mental health issues, most notably depression and anxiety.
Written By Casey Milano
The ConveHERsation is the digital platform for Women Of Power UK
The ConveHERsation is the digital platform for Women Of Power UK
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