Running Head: MENTAL ILLNESS IN MEN AND WOMEN

Mental Illness in Men and Women

Courtney Hughes
Professor Leslie Drake
LAS 13525
MWF 2:00pm
October 28, 2016

Running Head: MENTAL ILLNESS IN MEN AND WOMEN

Abstract
The area of mental illness and the differences between genders is the focus of this paper.
Included in this research there is a lot among so many different illnesses but the issue that is
going to be addressed in this paper is that in society people hear about women and mental illness
but not much about men and mental illness. So, what is mainly being addressed is if men or
women have more mental illnesses and disorders in the United States, and the similarities and
differences among both of them. This leads to many questions that may or may not be able to be
answered, such as, since women are the gender that is talked about most in society does this
mean men do not have mental illness or do people in society just not talk about it in that aspect?
In this paper it will address mental illness overall, women and mental illness, men and mental
illness, and how they compare and contrast. This research can be interesting to many people,
especially those in the psychology field. Since there has been so much research on all of this
information about mental illness, it can even be spun off to talk about other aspects than mental
illness and will still be connected to the research question at hand. So overall, this topic and
psychology in general needs to continue to be researched because the mental illness and
psychology field is always changing and growing, so in general there is always something new to
learn. This is why, with this paper, it will give the reader a better understanding of mental illness
between men and women in the United States.

Running Head: MENTAL ILLNESS IN MEN AND WOMEN

Introduction
When someone hears mental illness what do they think of? Maybe its depression, anxiety,
or even what is that? Well in this paper, the topic that will be discussed is whether mental illness
is more common in men or women in the United States. Mental illness has always been a topic
that not everyone can agree on. This will bring the population and world to some major topics
such as what mental illness is overall, different mental illnesses, women and mental illness, men
and mental illness, and also the answer to the research question. All of this can be researched
back hundreds of years but the main focus in todays issues on mental health. On that note, the
first topic will define mental illness.
Mental Illness Overall
One thing that should be clarified before mental illness is addressed over all is as in the
book by William Harris, Mental Disorders in the Classical World, he says, It has been difficult
to get agreement on whether or not to use the term mental illness or the term mental disorder
(Harris, 2013, pg 28). This then leads us to mental illnesses and disorders, While mental
disorders do not discriminate due to age, race, gender, or socioeconomic background, there are
some disorders that are more prevalent among various populations (Dual Diagnosis, 2016).
Mental illness has been a major topic in the United States for years. Mental illness has been an
issue because people view it as the person being completely crazy or that there is nothing wrong
with them because the illness is not visible. Mental Illness usually refers to mental health
conditions such as disorders that affect the persons mood, thinking and usually behavior. There
are examples that come along with mental illness such as: depression, anxiety, schizophrenia,
eating disorders, etc. There are a lot of different ways that mental illness can compare and

Running Head: MENTAL ILLNESS IN MEN AND WOMEN

contrast because no two patients are alike and neither is their treatment. According to the authors
of the article, Common Mental Disorders in Primary Health Care Units: Associated Factors and
Impact on Quality of Life, The term common mental disorders (CMDs) was introduced to
describe clinical presentations of individuals who did not meet formal criteria for diagnoses of
depression and/or anxiety disorders (Borges, 2016). With this the topic will shift from mental
illness in general to mental illness in women.
Women and Mental Illness
Women are the main subject when it comes to mental illness. Gender differences occur
particularly in the rates of common mental disorder-depression, anxiety and somatic complaints.
These disorders, in which women predominate, affect approximately 1 in 3 people in the
community and constitute a serious public health problem (World Health Organization, 2016).
While in most of the articles that were seen the main two mental disorders found within the
female population were depression and anxiety because when it comes to these two illnesses
women are more prone to them because of the way they handle stress. While both of these can be
very serious conditions, there are also so many women who have both together. Depression is
also said to be more persistent in women than in men, this concept is touched on in every one of
the sources that are used in the research of this paper. When it comes to patients as a whole, they
do not want or feel they need to get professional help. With that in mind, according to the article
by the World Health Organization, Only 2 in every 5 people experiencing a mood, anxiety or
substance use disorder seeking assistance in the year of the onset of the disorder (World Health
Organization, 2016). Another common theme when it comes to mental illness is diagnosis.
Mental illness is extremely under diagnosed by many doctors. Along with that women are
usually prescribed mood altering psychotropic drugs. Another factor women exceed men in is

Running Head: MENTAL ILLNESS IN MEN AND WOMEN

that women tend to experience up to three or more comorbid disorders, which is when a person
has two, three or more disorders at the same time. There are also several warning signs when it
comes to mental illness and women, according to The National Institute of Mental Health in their
article, Women and Mental Health, the warning signs go as follows: feelings of sadness or
hopelessness, abuse of substances, dramatic eating habit changes, decreased energy, excessive
fear and worry, hearing and seeing things that are not there, extreme mood changes, unclear
causes of aches, headaches, or digestive problems, irritability, social withdrawal and thoughts of
suicide (Women and Mental Health, 2016).
Another huge aspect of mental illness and women is sexual and domestic
violence. Depression, anxiety, psychological distress, sexual violence, domestic violence and
escalating rates of substance use affect women to a greater extent than been (World Health
Organization, 2016). This ties into the way that women handle stress and how that can lead them
to having these mental illnesses and this can lead to a lot of other issues. This is an ongoing issue
for women and it is also talked about tremendously in the psychology world, women have a lot
of pressure when it comes to social roles, discrimination, health, domestic violence and so many
others when it they are compared to men. One other main topic that World Health Organization
brings up is that there are three factors, according to them that are related to the protection of
mental problems. The first factor is being able to show the patient or person struggling with the
specific disorder to control the way they respond to extreme events that happen in their lives. The
second factor talks about giving those patients the access to the right materials that will help
them with the coping and dealing with the events in their lives. The third and last factor they
bring up is making sure the patient has support and a good support system behind them helping
them along the way. In the article from 2011 by the American Psychological Association, which

Running Head: MENTAL ILLNESS IN MEN AND WOMEN

was a study from Washington that touched on the subject of men being more likely to develop
substance abuse, antisocial problems and women being more likely to develop anxiety and
depression, the study is called, Study Finds Sex Differences in Mental Illness, talks about how
their researchers have found that women who suffer with anxiety disorders are more likely to
bottle up their emotions and also bring up that if they bottle it all up it will often lead to
loneliness, withdrawal and of course, depression (Eaton, 2011).
Men and Mental Illness
Mental health in women it is normally a stigma that is associated with only women being
the one gender to have mental illnesses and disorder. Men are also on the list for some of their
own top mental illnesses but they are quite different from womens. The top two disorders for
men tend to be antisocial personality disorder and alcohol dependence because this is the way
they know how to handle stress, unlike women, they go to a specific substance or drink to help
them cope. To support this claim, another quote from World Health Organization, The lifetime
prevalence rate for alcohol dependence, another common disorder, is more than twice as high in
men as in women (World Health Organization, 2016). In the article from the study by the
American Psychological Association that was touched on earlier, Study Finds Sex Differences in
Mental Illness, it talks about how their researchers have found that women who suffer from
anxiety disorders are more likely to bottle up their emotions and when they bottle it all up, it will
then often lead to loneliness, withdrawal and of course, depression. According to American
Psychological Association from 2011, unlike women, men tend to externalize their emotions and
then this leads to aggressive behavior, being impulsive, coercive and having noncompliant
behavior. The next topics that will talk about are the differences and similarities between men
and women when it comes to mental health.

Running Head: MENTAL ILLNESS IN MEN AND WOMEN

Compare and Contrast of Men and Women in Mental Health

Starting off with the quote that ended the last paragraph, the topic needs to be addressed
because that mental illness is a form of stereotype and is rarely viewed in a positive aspect. Both
men and women, there are many risk factors that are associated with mental illness for both.
According to the article by World Health Organization written in 2016, Gender and Womens
Mental Health, Depression, anxiety, somatic symptoms and high rates of comorbidity are
significantly related to interconnected and co-occurring risk factors such as gender based roles,
stressors and negative life experiences and events (World Health Organization, 2016). On the
other side of things, there is no difference between men and women when it comes to some
disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which both of these affect a very small
percentage of the population. There are also many reasons men and women begin to have these
illnesses, Economic and social policies that cause sudden, disruptive and severe changes to
income, employment and social capital that cannot be controlled or avoided, significantly
increase gender inequality and the rate of common mental disorders (World Health
Organization, 2016). Both men and women that experience and have the psychological disorders
are usually never treated or diagnosed by a doctor. Along with that the medication they are given
is usually either wrong or inappropriate for their diagnosis. Another factor that is talked about in
the article, Gender Differences in Mental Health is based on married and/or separated or
divorced men and women. Never married and separated/divorced men have higher overall
admission rates to mental health facilities than women in the same marital status. In contrast,
married women have higher admission rates than married men (Afifi, 2007, 386).
Another side note for when it comes to mental illness in both men and women is the fact
there are a lot of studies out there that tell and teach us about mental illness. In particular, in the

Running Head: MENTAL ILLNESS IN MEN AND WOMEN

article by Afifi Mustafa, Gender Difference in Mental Health, talks about a study that was done
for this particular topic. Mustafa gives three goals of the study to the readers so the readers begin
to think about it early. First off, the beginning goal is, Unfortunately, gender is increasingly
used inappropriately as a substitute for sex, particularly in biomedical literature, a tendency
which has created confusion (Mustafa, 2007, 385). The second goal refers to gender roles and
stereotypes, and how men and women are organized in society based on their biological make
up. The last goal of the study by Afifi was to talk about discrimination on the bases of the
individuals sex in certain situations and also the use of resources and how they are used in
gender equality. So overall, as you can tell that there is not actually a gender that is more prone
to mental illness, the way they differ is the ways they learn to cope with stress. While men have
different mental illnesses that they are more prone to get compared to women. This is the same
when it comes to women, women cope with depression and anxiety, while men to experience this
they do not experience it more than women. So, from my research, no one can say that men or
women have mental illness more than the other. The only true statement they can say is that they
experience certain illnesses more than the other. Here is a chart comparing some of the major
disorders the researcher touched on throughout the paper.

Running Head: MENTAL ILLNESS IN MEN AND WOMEN

Conclusion
Overall, mental illness has, is, and always will be major topic in the United States.
Throughout this paper, the researcher has answered the research question, women and men are
very different when it comes to mental health, the chart above helps to see that visually.
However, neither men nor women, from the research that was done, can be said that one has
more than the other. Men and women differ so dramatically that there really is not a comparison
that can be given between them. All in all, mental illness is an issue that many believe needs to
be addressed more than it already is. To recap, in this paper, the researcher talked about many
different topics and subjects. These were what mental illness is overall, different mental illnesses,
women and mental illness, men and mental illness, and also the question to the research question.
All of this can be lead back to why mental illness is even around and why people worry so much
about it. Even though the disorder is not shown on the outside, to many people it is still as
serious as a physical injury.

Running Head: MENTAL ILLNESS IN MEN AND WOMEN

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Reference Page
Afifi, Mustafa. (2007) Gender Differences and Mental Health. SpringerReference. 19 Oct.
2016.
Borges, Tatiana L. (2016). Common Mental Disorders in Primary Health Care Units:
oooooAssociated Factors and Impact on Quality of Life. Medline EBSCHost, 22(5), 378-86. 18
oooooOct. 2016.
Cooper, Rachel. (2014). Diagnosing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
oooooDisorders: Fifth Edition. EBOOK: EBSCOHost, Karnac Books. 19 Oct. 2016.
Eaton, Nicholas R. (2011). Study Finds Sex Differences in Mental Illness. American
Psychological Association. 26 Sept, 2016.
Gender and Womens Mental Health. (2016). Gender and Womens Mental Health. World
Health Organization. 19 Oct. 2016.
Harris, William V. (2013). Mental Disorders in the Classical World. EBSCO EBook Academic
Collection. (38). 26 Sept, 2016.
Koenig, Anne M., and Alice Eagly H. (2014). Extended Role Congruity Theory of Prejudice to
oooooMen and Women with Sex-Typed Mental Illnesses. Business Source Premier [EBSCO].
ooooo26 Sept, 2016.
Most Common Disorders in Men. (2016). Dual Diagnosis. 19 Oct. 2016.
Stigma and Discrimination Around Mental Health and Substance Use Problems. (2014). Here
to Help. 19 Oct. 2016

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Tasman, Allen. (2016). The Thing About Mental Illness. CINAHL Complete [EBSCHost].
Psychiatric Times. 26 Sept. 2016.
Women and Mental Health. (2016). U.S. National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library
of Medicine. 26 Sept. 2016.
World Almanac Education Group, Inc. (2014). Mental Disorders. Funk and Wagnalls New
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