More handpicked essays just for you.
Essays on mental health stigma
Essays on mental health stigma
Social stigma surrounding mental illness argumentative essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Essays on mental health stigma
Mental illnesses were also treated depending on the gender of the patient, this is because of the social views on the gender. For women, having a mental illness was “unladylike” and required “surgical intervention” (Dr. Eve Leeman). Occasionally, women were put through unnecessary procedures such as a clitoridectomy. The treatment of the mentally ill was also affected by the fact that some illnesses are more common in one gender compared to the opposite gender. For example, depression is the most common women’s mental health problem but it may be more common in women than men, and is present differentially in the two genders. Certain illnesses such as depression and anxiety affect women more than men in different settings. Reasons for the gender
...treatment of mental illnesses and that their ways of treatment and cures were ineffective and often detriments to their patients. She shows Charlotte as a victim to the male idea that women were not competent nor capable. This piece shows the power of diagnosis and its empowerment of the male physician's voice and how it took over and disempowered the female patient's opinion and thoughts on her own treatment and life choices.
This disorder is believed to mess with not only a woman’s hormones, but with her mind as well. Paracelsus theorized that “disorders of the uterus could result in hysterical fits that take away all reason and sensibility”(96). This explains why women lack reason and therefore are inferior to man, as we’ve seen throughout the course. Walter Johnson, in his Morbid Emotions of Women, implies- “Woman’s nature, her supposedly greater role in reproduction, makes her more vulnerable to insanity”(100). Although there’s some speculation on page 98 that hysteria could also be found in men, the idea was rejected and it was concluded that hysteria was of female essence. Any case of hysteria found in a male would be considered a rare exception to the rule. Because this disorder alone disrupts the female body so significantly, nineteenth-century medical scientists saw “the arousal of [sexual] appetite as the greatest danger to a woman’s mental well-being”(104). They feared that the sexual hormones on top of the reproductive hormones would be just too much for women to handle. English gynecologist, Isaac Baker Brown concluded that “the only effective cure [was] the destruction of the nerve through clitoridectomy”(105) Fortunately for women, protests eventually lead the circumcision of females to it’s demise
Other topics mentioned in Oakley’s review were also the three unsolved problems with women and health. She listed the three following topics regarding production, reproduction, and medicalization of psychological costs of women’s mental diseases. She also researched health vs. social product amongst women.
They are not just prevalent in the UK, but all over the world. Mental health is the main causes of overall burden disease worldwide (Vos.T et al 2013). 1 in 4 people in England will experience mental illness in their lifetime. Mixed anxiety and depression are the most common mental health disorder in Britain. Distributed according to the gradient of economic disadvantages in society. The poorer and more disadvantaged are unequally affected by mental health (Patel .V et al...2010). a mental health problem can affect anyone, regardless their age, gender and social background. Studies have shown that mental health effect man and women differently. More women are diagnosed with common mental health than men, however, male rate of suicide is significantly
Embedded largely in women's discouraged ambitions and limited opportunities, a reaction of supposed hysteria cases occurred during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Due to rise in this type of mental illness, the period became known as the “Golden Age of Hysteria.” Authorities of the time defined the problem in terms of femininity and female sexuality. Coming from the Greek term hysteron, meaning womb, hysteria was known as a strictly female illness that was caused by women's delicate constitutions and emotionality. Many doctors believed the uterus caused it, which was why they concluded that men could not become hysterical. (Showalter, p. 129)
Stigma, as defined by the Oxford English dictionary, is a symbol of degradation associated with a particular person or circumstance. In mental health, stigma refers to the judgemental attitude and prejudices to individuals who have mental illnesses—labelling them as nothing more than the disease. People living with mental illnesses are amongst the most stigmatized groups in the society. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is a state of well being where individuals are able to cope with normal stresses, work productively, and able to contribute to the community. In this paper, the different elements of mental health stigmatization including the history, prevalence, and the Canadian effort of addressing the issue
In this increasingly globalised world, there are many factor that affected people mentally. It is a common thing for every human being to confront with psychological suffers. Each individual has different level of sensitivity. Most of the time women are considered as a sensitive and emotional gender. Women are proven to be more mentally stressed than men. They have a special hormone that could affect the emotion and the way of women thinking is differed from men. Body image issue in society also forces women to suffer from stress.
Sciutto, Mark J, Cara Nolfi, and Carla Bluhm. 2004 "Effects of child gender and symptom type
Kinrys, G. & Wygant, L. E. (2005). Anxiety disorders in women: Does gender matter to treatment?. Rev Bras. Psiquiatr. 27(Supl II.). 43-50.
“Women are two times more likely to develop depressive symptoms then men”(Psychosocial and Behavioral Factors in Women’s Health, 1990), and women who are among the child-bearing years tend to be more at risk. However this is not to say that men are not affected by depression. It is usually, because of negative social influences, such as economic instability, and/or the inability to handle stress in their lives.
Depression is the most common mental health disorder; it affects over 17 million American adults each year. Depression is a mood disorder characterized by at least four symptoms such as changes in sleep, appetite, weight, and psychomotor activity; decreased energy, feelings of worthlessness or guilt; difficulty thinking, concentrating, or making decisions; or recurrent thoughts of death or suicidal ideation, thoughts or attempts. “Women are approximately two times more likely than men to suffer from major depression” (Research Agenda for Psychosocial and Behavioral Factors in Women’s Health, 1996) and it has been called the most significant mental health risk for women. Women are more likely to suffer from depression during marriage than if single, unlike men who are more likely to suffer depression when single than married, and increases with the number of children in the house (American Psychiatric Association, 1994, p.317). There are many contributing factors to depression in women including but not limited to: hormonal, genetic, infertility, menopause, family responsibilities, gender roles, sexual abuse, work related issues, and financial problems. (National Institute of Mental Health, June 1999). Depression in women is mentally and physically painful but has treatment options available.
Modern society focuses on the behavior of people and study how each individual with certain mental disorders behave. Before the medicalization of certain mental disorders, any psychological and sociological issues were not addressed properly or address at all. "The sociological model of mental illness argues that definitions of mental illness reflect subjective social judgments regarding whether behaviors are acceptable and understandable. Behaviors are labeled mental illness when they contravene cognitive norms, performance norms, or feeling norms" (Weitz, 2012). The behavior of each individual was not the center of attention and focus of medical studies. The psychological and sociological aspect was not considered important in the medicine
Current research has demonstrated that females, on average, have a larger deep limbic system than males. Due to the larger limbic brain, woman are more in touch with their feelings, they are generally better to express their feelings than men (“Male-Female Brain Differences”). Women are the primary care takers for children because of their strong ability to be connected and bond well with others. Containing a larger limbic system also leaves a female more likely to become depressed. As stated in “Male-Female Difference”, women attempt suicide three times more than men, but men actually succeed three times more than women. This h...
Depression is most common in women. The rates are twice as high as they are in men. According to the National Mental Health Association, about one in every eight women will develop depression at some point during her lifetime. Women’s symptoms are similar to major depression. Some of them include being in a depressed mood, loss of interest in activities you used to like, feelings of guilt and hopelessness, and suicidal thoughts or recurrent thought of death. Women tend to blame themselves, feel anxious and scared, and avoid conflicts at all costs. They also use food, friends, and love to self-medicate. Some causes of depression in women are premenstrual problems, pregnancy and inf...
In health and life expectancy between men and women, ‘gender’ and ‘sex’ are two parts that may illustrate using different methods. Gender is perceived to be one part of a person that identifies who they are as well as show how they see themselves and others around them. Gender is what makes men and women different in the way that they behave. Gender is also what gives men and women their different identities within the society, which is usually seen as femininity or masculinity (Blunt and Wills, 2000). However, ‘sex’ can usually be mistaken for ‘gender’ and mostly be identified as men and women. What distinguishes ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ is that ‘sex’ is the biological anatomical identification of men and women, where as ‘gender’...