MENTAL HEALTH OF WOMEN IN INDIA

MENTAL HEALTH OF WOMEN IN INDIA

Gender roles impact identity in both man and woman. Gender differences are based in physical, physiological and psychological attributes. For centuries, the differences between men and women have been socially defined and distorted through a lens of sexism and this is where the concept of ‘patriarchy system’ comes. And most of the time women stay submissive in Indian society and this leads to poor mental health of women. The statistics indicates that there are profound differences of psychological distress and psychological disorders between men and women.

WHAT IS MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL DISORDER?

The term ‘mental health’ basically describes a person’s cognitive or emotional well-being. This includes a person’s ability to enjoy life and achieve psychological resilience.

‘Mental disorder’ is a change in behavioral pattern of a person (causing distress) which is not expected as a part of normal development or culture.

COMMON REASONS BEHIND POOR MENTAL HEALTH OF WOMEN IN INDIA

·       Gender-based discrimination

·       Belonging from an economically under-developed family

·       Hormonal factors

·       Getting less attention from family

·       Always being compared with other male members of family

·       Pregnancy

·       Domestic violence

·       Abusive husband

·       Sexual or physical harassment

·       Being widowed or separated

·       Having low autonomy in decision making

·       Getting raped

·       Financial insecurity

·       Sexual trafficking

·       Public humiliation

·       Experiencing menopause

·       Cultural differences

·       Gender barriers

MOST COMMON MENTAL DISORDERS OF WOMEN IN INDIA

·       Anxiety disorders- A mental disorder that is characterized by significant feeling of anxiety and fear.

·       Depressive disorders- A serious mental disorder that negatively affects a person’s lifestyle.

·       Substance use disorder- This disorder takes away the ability to control a drug’s use.

·       Somatic symptom disorder- This disorder makes the person to extreme focus on physical symptoms.

·       Unipolar depressive disorder- Persistent sadness and showing least interest in outside stimuli.

Symptoms of depression, anxiety and other unspecified psychological distress are 2-3 times more common among women.

SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS

·       Schizophrenia- A disorder that affects the person’s ability to feel, think and behave properly.

·        Bipolar disorder- A mental disorder marked by alternating period of elation and depression.

Though these disorders are less prevalent than common mental disorders, still the taboo associated with these diseases makes these chronic.

Currently India is world’s most depressive country and so are the women of India. When a woman is mentally ill the services are sought infrequent and late and the ill may get abandoned by her family. The only reason is the subject ‘mental illness’ is still ostracized in Indian society. Women go through a lot of thing in their entire life. All they need is proper support from their family to be mentally strong. All the social, economic, legal, infrastructural and environmental facts that hampers women’s mental condition needs to be fixed as soon as possible. 

The fundamental need for a girl is education and this has to be started from the early childhood. It is a family’s responsibility to educate a girl child, make her strong enough to fight exploitation and injustice, aware her of what is wrong and what is right, what is acceptable and what is not, make her understand how desperately a girl need economic independence and support her through the course of the time.