Women and Mental Health in Early 1900\'s

Mental Health

The health of women has been a subject of discussion for many years and it has been emphasized because the health of women is directly related to the health of the child and thus the health of the society (Jacobson, 1993). However, the unfortunate part is that when considering the health of the women, only her physical and reproductive health is given importance and there is no consideration of her mental health that is equally as important as her physical health. All around the world, efforts have increased to make the health conditions of the women better especially since the last decade. Women are now regularly screened for HIV and other diseases that have a vertical pattern of transmission so that the children can be saved from such diseases. Awareness has also increased over the years among the women and they realize that their health, both mental and physical, is important for them. According to a theory of a feminist, the well-being of women is not only determined by reproduction and biological factors but is also affected by nutrition, workload, migration, war and stress (Belle, 1990). When a gender's perspective has to be introduced in the mainstream health sector, there is a need for the development of a comprehensive definition of health for women that should include both mental as well as physical health. This needs to be done because it has been recorded that women suffer from mental health disorders more than men to and this is because they are subjected to social causes more than men and these causes lead to psychological distress and mental illness.

Epidemiology

According to the anthropological and epidemiologic data, there are different clusters and patterns of psychiatric disorders and distress among women. These reports suggest that pain originates from social circumstances of the lives of many women. Overwork hunger civil and domestic violence as well economic dependence and entrapment lead to hopelessness, depression, anger and exhaustion that further lead mental illnesses. By understanding and studying the sources of mental illness in women, we can understand the economic and cultural forces interact to lower the social status of women in most parts of the world. It is important to note here that if health policies need to be formulated in a way that would not only cover the well-being of women from childhood through their old age so that their social status is also taken care of. There is a need for the empowerment of women in terms of their education as well as their economic conditions by enhancing the status of women through political and legal mechanisms. Moreover, there is also a need for a combined effort of the health authorities and other stake holders to take steps so that the mental and social health services are improved for women and for this it is important that health professionals should be trained and programs should be launched for the betterment of the health services.

Ever since the emergence of HIV in the 1980s, it has become a major area of study and concern for medical specialists. Even though there were calls for preventive administrative measures in most part of the world, the virus has now even spread to the places where it was relatively uncommon before, for example India. As a matter of fact, the spread of this disease has also alarmed the psychiatric fraternity. It should also be noted here that public health sector has not paid enough attention to the disease and the virus and has only laid emphasis on the physical manifestations of the disease and have ignored the mental illness associated with the spread of the virus in the human body.

Researches have proved the relationship between the high-risk behavior in psychiatric patients and the prevalence of HIV (Jayarajan and Chandra, 2010). Many studies have been carried out to investigate the relationship between the spread of the disease and the increase in the mental disorders of the people and particularly that of the developing countries. This is because the social and economic conditions of women in these areas and especially through the 1990s deteriorated and therefore their mental condition was worsened because of the disease and the social conditions in which they were living. As unprotected sexual intercourse is a common practice the developing world and especially in the southern Asian part of the world, the spread of the disease was further increased. According to some statistics, the high risk behavior of the women (in India) was reported to be 11% and that of men was reported to be 26%. As for the recent history, these statistics are reported to be 6% and 5% for women and men respectively. It has also been established that women who suffer from severe mental illness are likely to have a greater prevalence of high-risk behavior if they present with a history of substance abuse.

Another reason that led to increased number of women being depressed and suffering from various mental illnesses was also the increased incidence of partner violence. Yet again, economy has a role to play in here. According to statistics, men who are not employed have a tendency to mistreat their wives because they have a lower social status and can be snubbed easily. When this happens, these women develop psychological disorders that become chronic over time. During the 1990s, this kind of violence was even more common and especially in the developing world where economy influences the social conditions of the people more than it affects the people anywhere else in the world. The mental status of the women was affected not only by the violence that they were suffering from, but also from the poverty in which they have to live. It has also been shown that violence further leads to the deterioration of social status of the women and thus a further decline in their mental health. On the other hand, one of the risk factors of physical disability has been found to be depression (WHO, 2000).