Gender discrimination, victimisation and women's mental health

SummaryGender inequality and discrimination, as well as violence and victimisation towards women, have recently hit the headlines creating a media furore. We provide a timely discussion surrounding the impact of these issues on women's mental health and a discussion of the role of psychiatry in this context.Declaration of interestK.B. is the editor for the British Journal of Psychiatry but has not played a role in the decision to accept this editorial for publication in this journal. G.H. has no conflict of interest to declare.

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The plight of women in Iraq: Gender disparity, violence, and mental health

International Journal of Social Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/00207640211003602 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 002076402110036

Author(s):

Maha Sulaiman Younis ◽

Riyadh Khudhiar Lafta

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Disorders ◽

Gender Inequality ◽

Social Role ◽

Gender Disparity ◽

Women’S Mental Health ◽

Gender Based Violence ◽

Women's Mental Health ◽

Internal Conflicts ◽

Gender Based

Background: Generations of women living in Iraq endured three major regional wars and internal conflicts, which weakened their psychological vulnerability and social role by poverty, displacements, and loss of their beloved ones. The available literature about women’s mental health is scarce and does not signify the gender inequality and gender disparity of mental disorders. Method: During 1st August to October 2020, we explored the search engines: Google Scholar, Pub-Med, Medline, and Clarivate using keywords of Iraq, gender inequality, women’s mental health, violence, and conflict, mental disorders, gender-based violence, etc. From 1792 research items, 64 articles were scrutinized for this study. We selected the most relevant studies with some available documents excluding data bout Immigrant women outside Iraq and reports from foreign military sources. Finding: Women living in Iraq have struggled for equality and empowerment since the 20th century. For the last four decades, successive wars, economic sanction, gender-based violence, and internal conflicts have affected their development endeavors. The 2003 US-led invasion caused a loss of lives, destruction of infrastructure, and forced displacement for tens of thousands of civilians, including women and children. These atrocities increased women’s vulnerability to develop or worsen the existing mental disorders. This review tries to attract world attention to women’s situations in Iraq.

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The Role of Reproductive Psychiatry in Women’s Mental Health

Women's Reproductive Mental Health Across the Lifespan ◽

10.1007/978-3-319-05116-1_16 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 301-327

Author(s):

Emily C. Dossett

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Women’S Mental Health ◽

Women's Mental Health

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Women, ‘madness’ and exercise

Medical Humanities ◽

10.1136/medhum-2017-011379 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 44 (3) ◽

pp. 181-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jennifer Jane Hardes

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Prima Facie ◽

Health Condition ◽

Significant Shift ◽

Emotional States ◽

Women’S Mental Health ◽

Women's Mental Health ◽

Treatment Of Depression ◽

Exercise Promotion

The positive relationship between exercise and mental health is often taken for granted in today’s society, despite the lack of academic literature evidencing this symbiosis. Gender is considered a significant determinant in a number of mental health diagnoses. Indeed, women are considered twice as likely as men to experience the most pervasive mental health condition, depression. Exercise for women’s mental health is promoted through various macrolevel charity, as well as microlevel, campaigns that influence government healthcare policy and National Health Service guidelines. Indeed, ‘exercise prescriptions’ in the treatment of depression is not uncommon. Yet, this link between exercise as a treatment for women’s mental health has not always been so pervasive. In fact, an examination of asylum reports and medical journals from the late 19th century highlights a significant shift in attitude towards the role of exercise in the treatment of women’s emotional states and mental health. This paper specifically examines how this treatment of women’s mental health through exercise has moved from what might be regarded as a focus on exercise as a ‘cause’ of women’s mental ailments to exercise promoted as a ‘cure’. Unpacking the changing medical attitudes towards exercise for women in line with larger sociopolitical and historic contexts reveals that while this shift towards exercise promotion might prima facie appear as a less essentialist view of women and their mental and physical states, it inevitably remains tied to larger policy and governance agendas. New modes of exercise ‘treatment’ for women’s mental health are not politically neutral and, thus, what appear to emerge as forms of liberation are, in actuality, subtler forms of regulation.

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