Women Mental Health Across Life Span

Abstract

Women’s Mental Health across the Lifespan examines women’s mental health from a developmental perspective, looking at key stressors and strengths from adolescence to old age. The stressors and challenges can impact women’s mental health, such as trauma, addictions, and mood and anxiety disorders, along with racial and ethnic disparities in women’s physical and mental health, mental health of sexual minorities and women with disabilities, and includes valuable suggestions for putting knowledge into practice. The patterns of psychological distress and psychiatric disorder among women are different from those seen among men. Women have a higher level of internalizing disorders while men show a higher level of externalizing disorders. Gender differences occur particularly in the rates of common mental disorders wherein women predominate. Differences between genders have been reported in the age of onset of symptoms, clinical features, and frequency of psychotic symptoms, course, social adjustment, and long-term outcome of severe mental disorders. Women who abuse alcohol or drugs are more likely to attribute their drinking to a traumatic event or a stressor and are more likely to have been sexually or physically abused than other women. This review explains about the impact of mental illness and women with regard to psychosocial issue, consequences and management.