CAN MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES BE GENDER SPECIFIC?

THE National Women’s Council of Ireland lobbies the Irish health system to achieve better outcomes for women’s mental health. Women’s mental health is a concern in all walks of life - not just in business – and the need to promote gender-sensitive mental health services is vital.

The aim of women’s organisations is to campaign for gender proofing mental health services and to gain an understanding of the diversity involved between men and women’s mental health. World Health Organisation (WHO) studies show that depression and anxiety complaints are more predominate among women, with approximately 1 in 3 women in the community likely to have mental health problems Women and men have different health requirements that have different implications for mental health.

For example, women’s health involves having and raising children, often in stressful social environments and where workplace discrimination is a subtle threat to their career goals. This is an underlying threat to women’s mental health.

Women continue to suffer in silence regarding some of the aforementioned situations. In some cases single mothers are left to shoulder the worry, responsibility and anxiety of raising children and this cannot be classified as ‘gender equal’ when it comes to mental health issues. It’s too simplistic to ascribe a one size fits all policy on mental health.

The promotion of a healthy lifestyle, diet and social interaction is what is proscribed to both genders – which to an extent plays a positive part - however there remains a need to give women’s mental health separate status.