Mental Health And Women

Poverty is not simply a deficiency in material resources, it is the complex situation of low income that limits ones access to many of the social determinants of health such as safe and suitable housing, food, child care, education, and can lead to social exclusion (Séguin et al, 2012). The experience of poverty in childhood, particularly early childhood, has been linked to many adverse health effects such as low birth weight, increased incidence of asthma, injuries, mental health issues and obesity (Sharma & Ford-Jones, 2015). The impact of childhood poverty continues into adulthood, increasing the risk of many chronic diseases. Perhaps even

Poverty is the single largest determinant of health. It has a widespread range of negative effects, both on the physical and the mental level, making it a significant public health concern in many countries. Poorer people tend to live shorter lives because there’s a clear correlation between income and access to healthcare. This disparity draws special attention to the significant sensitivity of health and the social environment.

Men and women have different levels of risks of getting mental illnesses such as alcohol dependency. This is “more than twice as high in men than women. In developed countries, approximately 1 in 5 men and 1 in 12 women develop alcohol dependence during their lives” WHO 2015. This clearly shows that men and women have different risks when it comes to health and illness. Men are also twice as likely to have personality disorders, but women are more likely to have anxiety and depression than men are. Women have more accounts of sexual harassment and rape and this has a knock on effect to the amount of people with depression.

SAMHSA has recognized the inequality of women receiving health services and has implemented many funding plans to include women and girls in all the ways possible. As a tool for this field, SAMHSA created a report named Addressing the Needs of Women and Girls: Developing Core Competencies for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service Professionals, allowing all the professionals related to mental health and substance abuse be familiar with all the aspects of caring for women. Throughout the report, they inform all viewers of gender differences between male and female such as their different symptoms, priorities, expectations, physiological differences and more. This report also includes the need for knowledge of considerations throughout pregnancy and mental illnesses, recovery orientation, family-centered needs, and the overall health of women. Aspects of women’s health such as how their maturation and physiology influences mental illnesses, the relationship between

Attempting to make ends meet, those who are living in poverty are more likely to suffer from financial stress and mental health issues, as well as physical health

Instead of experiencing intimate relationships women are taking care of children and working. Women are getting paid less even when working the same hours as men. Instead of women living a full and experienced life they are isolating themselves to just family and work when living in poverty. The role expectations of women cause, stress, anger, anxiety and helplessness. According to the Fact Sheet: Women &Socioeconomic Status women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety orders living below the poverty

As stated in the article, while many people, regardless of their gender, have preconceived notions regarding using and seeking out mental health services, men

Poor health is a direct of effect of poverty, children with families with no money or that live in a country that cannot provide the right kind of services do not have access to adequate medical treatment, “Psychological research has demonstrated that living in poverty has a wide range of negative effects on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of our nation’s children. Poverty impacts children within their various contexts at home, in school, and in their neighborhoods and communities”. If a child does not have the money it is impossible to get the necessary care that it needs, I witnessed this first hand: back when I lived in Africa I wasn’t much older than 3 or 4, I used to have a younger brother who got sick and it wasn’t even something very serious it was just a minor cold that could have been easily treated but thanks to lack of hospitals and the lack of money in our household the minor cold become very serious and I watched as my younger brother slowly died in my mother’s arms. Furthermore, the APA (the American psychological association) found that

Poverty has increasingly become a noticeable issue worldwide over the past couple of decades. With the middle class steadily decreasing, considerable amounts of people are becoming part of the lower class, and even more of our world’s population are beginning to live in poverty. It is important to understand there are different definitions of poverty, and that is largely determined by what each country’s government determines as the cut off of poverty, otherwise known as the ‘poverty line’. Although some people could live above the poverty line, and still be struggling financially, it goes unrecognized by most research collection. However, what was initially noticed around the 1970’s is that there was a significant rise in women’s poverty statistics. More female-headed households were living in poverty, and a majority of those women belonged to a minority. This recognizable trend has been deemed the ‘feminization of poverty’, which according research is not only a growing problem in North America, but several other countries around the world. Information gathered about this issue in the United States shows that female-headed households is by far the fastest growing type of family structure, and due to the fact there is a growing poverty level amongst this group, it now means that approximately half of the all the poor in the United States live in a women-headed family and household. (Gimenez, 1999, p. 336) The biggest question when is comes to this particular topic is why?

Bipolar depression, postpartum depression, or simply the unwillingness to bear a child frequently required the remedy of this so-called medication. The rest cure obliged the diagnosed female to stay in a single bland room with limited stimulus and outside contact until they were functioning at full capacity once again. This treatment, however, did not produce the desired effect. Often times, the constant solitude only added to their already ill mental state. This cycle of incurable craziness only leads to more stereotypes of the unreliability of women's mental

One common cause of depression that can be found no matter where you are in the world is poverty. In “What’s Behind the Gender Gap in Depression”, reporter Gretchen Cuda looks at how major depression is developed in both sexes, focusing mainly on women and their day-to-day struggles with the illness. “Being poor brings many types of stress, not the least of which is a feeling of loss of control over your life. That, in turn, can lead to negativity, passivity and lack of self-esteem--- and all those feelings increase the risk of depression.” (Cuda). Although Cuda focuses her report on women and depression, poverty is a factor that can lead to depression no matter what gender. The importance of financial stability and the stress that comes with worrying about money can take a toll on one’s physical as well as psychological health. Certain situations can occur in either gender but what occurs in the mind as well as methods of coping are what make the risk of depression differ for males and females.

“High rates of child poverty are a cause for concern, as low family income has been associated with a range of negative health, education, justice, labour market and social outcomes. Negative health outcomes include low birth weight, infant mortality, poorer mental health and cognitive development, and hospital admissions from a variety of causes” (Craig, Reddington, Wicken, Oben & Simpson, 2013, pg. 24).

Women experience depression at twice the rate of men. Gender differences emerge first at puberty and occur mainly in the common mental disorders such as depression, anxiety among others. These disorders, in which women predominate, affect approximately 1 in 3 people. The frequency of major depression in adults is estimated to be 7 to 12 percent in men and 20 to 25 percent in women in a community and this constitutes a serious public health problem (NIMH, 2006). Several and variable factors in women contribute to depression, such as genetic, hormonal, developmental, reproductive, and other biological differences like premenstrual syndrome, childbirth, infertility and menopause. Factors associated to social issues may lead to depression

Poverty can lead to serious effects. Children who grow up in poverty are likely to have frequent health problems than the children who grow in better financial circumstances. For example, infants who are born into poverty have a low birth weight, and they grow up with mental or physical disabilities. Not only are they sick, but they are most likely to die before their first birthday. Children who are raised in poverty might miss school often because of their illnesses, and they have a much higher accident rate than the other children. Nearly a billion of the world’s population can’t read nor write. Poor families experience stress much more than a normal family does. They are more likely to be exposed to negative events such as illness, job loss, death of a family member, and depression. Homelessness is another effect of poverty. Homeless children are less likely to receive proper nutrition, protection and they experience more health problems. Around 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe and clean water and proper nutrition. Homeless women experience a high rate of low birth weight infants as well as miscarriages. Families who do not have homes receive much more stress than other families. They also have disruption in school, work, friendships, and family relationships. There are other effects of poverty such as drug abuse and addiction, child and woman abuse, debts pressure, and increase in crimes.

One of the key learning from this topic is the relation between financial independence/education and women’s sexual and reproductive health. And the way social, economic, demographic, and community characteristics affect women’s ability to acquire information, and their ability to act and decide on their reproductive health and their overall health. I gained important understanding on social determinants of women’s health that is related to gender norms, that places women as inferior in many part of the world leading to health, social, and economic issues that men do not face. Coming from developing country the impact of social determinants on women’s health is a big issue, and understanding the disparities that even exist in developed countries from this course opened, my eyes on how disadvantaged women are worldwide economically and socially.