• Mental health

Mental health

This paper, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, examines the associations between factors indicative of gender disadvantage and reproductive health with the risk of common mental disorders (CMDs) such as depression and anxiety amongst women in India. Examples of gender disadvantage include partner violence, lack of autonomy in decision making, lack of support for daily activities, and being married and bearing children during adolescence. Based on a survey of almost 2,500 women aged between 18 and 50 years old, the paper finds that the risk for CMDs was significantly higher for women who had experienced gender disadvantage and economic difficulties. Other risk factors for CMDs include: the birth of a girl, lack of integration of social activities, and being widowed or separated – a source of considerable stigma and discrimination in Indian society.

The paper concludes that there is a strong association between social and economic deprivation and the risk for CMDs. The authors suggest that mental health research in developing countries should be allied with other public health research programmes that have an emphasis on gender issues. At the level of mental health policy, it is essential that social, cultural and economic determinants of gender disadvantage be challenged at all levels of health systems to promote women’s mental health.

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