Gender - The Beautiful Mind

Gender Specific Issues

Men and women suffer mental disorders at the same rate, however the types of disorders differ. Men are more likely to have substance use and antisocial personality disorders. Women are more likely to have anxiety, affective, and somatization disorders.
There are also gender differences in physiological responses to alcohol. Women develop adverse health consequences from the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs over shorter time periods and with lower consumption than men. This phenomenon results in women entering substance abuse treatment at generally the same ages as men, but with shorter histories of substance abuse and more severe consequences.
More than men, women minimize the harmfulness of their drinking and tend to be supported in their drinking by their spouses. Because of the stigma attached to female alcoholism, the female alcoholic is likely to seek help from health care professionals rather than from substance abuse programs.
Although men have a greater risk of exposure to many traumatic events, the prevalence of PTSD is higher in women than men in some studies; a difference accounted for by women’s greater likelihood of developing PTSD after experiencing traumatic events. For example, being a witness to violent events that occur to others led to significantly higher rates of PTSD in exposed women than exposed men.