Mental Health Knows no Gender
BY: Neighbors’ Consejo|
Mental health issues do not discriminate for gender, race, social position or age. However, many do not know that gender differs the type and level of affectations.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO)[1] socio-economic factors such as social position or even the place where people live are key to determining why men and women suffer from depression, anxiety, anger or even loneliness. For example, depression strikes women more than men. Contrary to alcohol dependence where 1 in 5 men and 1 in 12 women develop it.
Additionally, a 2019 survey [2] of 70,000 people in the US, determined that 16.3% of men and 24.5% of women suffered from a mental illness during that year, which shows once again that women are the most prone to this ailment.
A study published by the American Psychological Association[3] found that gender can determine behavior – “women with anxiety disorders are more likely to internalize emotions, which typically results in withdrawal, loneliness and depression. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to externalize emotions, which leads to aggressive, impulsive, coercive and noncompliant behavior”.
References
[3]https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/08/mental-illness