mental illness in women

mental illness in women

Mental illness is a medical condition that negatively interferes with humans thinking capability, disturbing moods , and or changing  normal  humans behavior. Mental illness puts the patient at the risk of disability, sometimes making the patient to feel pain in some body organs, limiting his freedom or even resulting to death. There are several symptoms associated with mental illness. They include, depression, extreme mood changes, strong feeling of fear, delusions, paranoia and hallucinations. Cases of women with mental illness until 85 years are higher than in men as per a survey conducted by Britain National Health Service. This research paper will explore on facts and research findings on mental illness in women.

According to Joel 2015, a third of Americans are living with mental illness. Women are at higher risk of developing mental illness by 40% as compared to men. This high prevalence is strongly contributed by biological factor and socio-cultural factors. According to Elizabeth 2015, most of mental health issues found in women are depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, suicide disorder and eating disorder.

Depression is a medical health condition characterized by feeling sad , having low moods and feeling miserable, difficulty in sleeping or excessive sleeping. The effects result to losing interest in usual activities. according to WHO, depression is more common and persistent in women than in men.

Anxiety is an emotion characterized by the feeling of uncontrollable worries, persistent nervous behavior, and feeling of being overwhelmed. Anxiety disorder is a medical mental illness and is subdivided into, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, specific phobia and agoraphobia. Generalized anxiety disorder is described as extreme worries about ordinary activities, people or possessions. Panic disorder is as result of experience of abrupt and unexpected panic attack. The victims are always afraid that the events will reoccur.in the case where the victim is a woman, in between the panic attacks, the inten8se of the anxiety will be high. In lifetime, women are twice likely to get anxiety disorder as men.

Posttraumatic stress disorder is mental health condition that is as a result of witnessing serious life threating condition such as war, natural disaster, rape , terrorist incident or serious accident.it is characterized by intrusive memories, nightmares and flashbacks making the victim to be severely depressed and in great fear.

During their life, women experiences either one or all of the above mentioned disorders. There are several factors causing women to be at high risk preference as compared to men. They include, biological factors, social factors. Cultural| environmental factors. Women biological structure is different from men in terms of hormonal flux. Human body produce a chemical called neurotransmitters which is categorized in to two general types. The categories are inhibitory type and excitatory type.

Inhibitory type controls person’s happiness and calm. Example of inhibitory type is serotonin. Serotonin is a hormone found in blood platelets and central nervous system which sends signals to nerve cell .It is known for stabilizing natural moods. Serotonin helps in reducing depression, healing wounds, regulating anxiety and stimulating nausea. Sleep trouble, depression  and anxiety are some of results of low level of serotonin in the brain. Naturally, serotonin levels in women are lower than in men.in addition, the chemical is processed at a slower rate in women than in men. This explain why women are more likely to develop mental health issues.

Excitatory type regulates excitement moods, fear reactions and stress. Excitatory type of neurotransmitters consist of adrenaline and epinephrine hormanes.These hormones can alter the brains physical structure if triggered persistently and over a long period, This in turn suppresses release of serotonin. At the end, there is chemical imbalance in the body leading to anxiety. Generally, women experience hormonal fluctuations more than men.

In lifetime, women undergo various life phases, some which render them vulnerable to mental illness. The phases include   triggers premenstrual dysphoric disorder, pregnancy which may cause   perinatal depression and menopause which may result to perimenopause depression.

premenestral  dysphoric disorder largely affects teenagers n girls. 70_91% of teenage girls experi8ence pain associated with menestration. 96% of these teenager girls are affected  physically, emotionally and psychologically.Painful0 menstruation is medically called dysmenorrhea. Since dysmenorrhea affects teenage girls at school going age, school absence is inevitable and its impact is felt even in their exam performance. However, awareness campaigns are being contacted to fully equip girl child with necessary knowledge  to enable are to use  available pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment to reduce the effect of dysmenorrhea.

Perinatal depression is mostly felt by pregnant women during pregnancy and after giving birth. During pregnancy women experience depression and anxiety due obstetrical complications  such as miscarriages, preterm births, low birth weight and preeclampsia. Postpartum depression has been said to be caused by prenatal anxiety as well marital distress such as having nonsupportive parners.41% of pregnant women suffer postpartum depression after giving birth.