There is a lot of talk these days concerning men’s health, specifically their mental health and gender specific risk factors. However, I’m here to give you some snippets of information regarding women’s mental health and some of the challenges they face in terms of their own mental health battle. The fact is that approximately 4 times as many men lose their lives to suicide as women in Ireland. However, women attempt suicide more than twice as often as their male counterparts (NIMH & WHO, 2007). To me, this speaks of an equally scary problem that affects women and their mental health as much, if not more so than men.

Women’s use of antidepressants as a form of escape has increased threefold between the years of ’88-’94 and ’99-’02, to the point that they use them twice as often as men do. Then there’s the fact that a doctor is actually far more likely to diagnose you with depression if you’re female. This is true even if males present identical symptoms in an identical scenario (NCHS, CDC, 2007). In fact, many dangerous mental illnesses are riskier to women, given their prevalence. More than 85% of people diagnosed with bulimia or anorexia are women. Anxiety disorders, as well as panic disorders are both more prevalent in women. (Misra, D., Women’s Health Databook, 2001).

There are many varying reasons for these contrasts in mental health fortunes, and it’s hard not to think that some of the most significant factors are not gender-oriented, and thus fixable. In a nutshell, here they are (WHO, 2007):

• Gender based violence
• Socio-economic disadvantage
• Low income and income inequality
• Relentless responsibility for the care of others
• Low social status (WHO, 2007)
• Women are more likely to have a higher risk of living in poverty compared to men
• Many women suffer from lack of sleep, 6 in 10 women state they have a poor sleep most nights
• Women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence.

Protective factors are important for women to use to help prevent the development of different mental health disorders. Some of these include: Talking to family, friends and health professionals, and accepting help from them. A women should have the independence or autonomy to show control in the case of a serious event. Poverty is another issue that affects a women’s mental health and especially in regards to depression. Unfortunately this is a vicious cycle that women can often get caught in.  Depression can cause the women a lot of financial stress as the disability is very costly as it worsens. Women with depression unfortunately often feel very insecure and humiliated, which of course they should not! Women also may have to deal with poor access to health care which is just not good enough.

A very good site women should look is a website called “walk in my shoes” (https://www.walkinmyshoes.ie/women-and-mental-health/). This is very insightful and has the stories of many women with Mental Health problems. It is a very good site to know that what they are feeling, many women like them are feeling the exact same way too and it’s normal to feel that way. It is also a great site if you wish to help women and seek training in this profession of women and mental health. There are many blogs on this site also which we would highly recommend anyone to read!

References:

• WHO, 2007
• NIMH, 2007
• Walk in my shoes
• NCHS, CDC, 2007
• Misra, D., Women’s Health Databook, 2001

 

 

 

The history of the Eighth Amendment

This year our long-standing catholic country Ireland finally legalised abortion. This year was arguably a momentous year for Ireland, as many felt that it was a legislation that should have been passed years ago. It’s abhorrent to some of our citizens that it took until 2018 to legalise abortion!
1983 TO 2018
So let’s have a quick summary of our abortion laws through the years: In 1983 the 8th amendment was passed, which meant that a pregnant woman could get an abortion, but only if her life was at risk. In 1992 the 13th Amendment was passed and women were then allowed to travel to the UK to get an abortion. In 2012, the abortion bill was brought to the proposed legislation and debated, then later rejected by 110 to 20 votes. In 2014, there was a petition to repeal the 8th, and this brought about change – skip ahead to the present day, with the 8th Amendment being repealed. The bill was passed by an astounding 66%!! This speaks volumes about the current state of mind in the Republic of Ireland, and the public’s impatience and desire to distance themselves both from the Catholic Church and from any and all legislative mistakes of the past.

What does this mean for women in the present day??
There is now a certain respect for women in terms of the decisions they make. There is no more unnecessary shame or embarrassment from women in Ireland. They no longer have to endure lonely, heart-breaking journeys to the UK. There will be less secrecy in their lives as they know they can speak out for themselves now. Women will not have health professionals in their own country tell them that there is nothing they can do. They now know that Ireland stand by the decision that they decided to make. It now shows that there is gender equality. Women now can have safe abortions, planned through their own medical centres. It also means women’s health is priority numero uno! Especially significant is this point, as both physical and mental health have been put under strain in the past for the women of Ireland. These women now have the support they need and deserve, where in times gone by, they might have had nowhere to go or nobody to turn to.
A personal stance
People have their own values and traditions in life, but one should never push their views on anybody else., which had been the case here in Ireland for far too long. In the case of abortion, it is a personal decision and someone who is pregnant should be allowed to make their own decision when it comes to their life and their body. There is an emotional and insightful page on Facebook entitled “In her Shoes”. I implore everyone reading to go check it out!! It is home to some of the most real and heart wrenching stories you will read. Women in Ireland should feel comfortable and safe in their decision. Women should not have to go through mental torture, before, during and after an abortion. Now there has been a breakthrough! Let’s keep advancing ladies!
References:
Thejournal.ie
BBC website

Where are the lads going wrong???

 

Gender and health are two things that are inextricably linked, and probably always will be, due to masculine behaviours directly affecting their health throughout their lives. There are numerous reasons why we need to focus particularly on men’s health, and also suggestions to improve the situation, a lot of which we will touch on briefly here for you!

The first and most obvious one is that women live 4.7 years longer than their male counterparts in our country, which just doesn’t seem very fair, does it? I’d be pretty annoyed if I had 5 years less life to live because I was born a boy. In countries such as Latvia and Lithuania, there is up to 10 years in the difference between life expectancy in men and women. So why is there such a huge gap??

• “Men across Europe are dying far too soon and suffering unnecessarily poor health simply because they take too many risks with their health, delay going to the doctor when they have a problem, and are offered health services that don’t meet their needs” [Ian Banks, EMHF, 2000].

 

In simple terms, many things just kill men sooner than they do women: injuries, cardiovascular disease, accidents, cancers, liver disease, etc. (a lot of these factors men lead by a considerable margin). Since 1990, the prevalence of obesity among men in Ireland has increased from 7.8% to 25.8% and latest statistics show that only 30% of men in Ireland are of ‘normal’ weight. Of particular concern, suicide is rampant in young men in Ireland – men suffer from loneliness a lot more, as they typically choose to internalize their feelings, or are told to ‘man up’ if they’re seen expressing emotion. This would seem to hint towards the necessity for gender-specific approaches to address both the physical and mental health needs of men in Ireland.

• “On the island (of Ireland), excess mortality amongst males represents a fundamental inequality in health” [p11, The Institute of Public Health in Ireland, 2001].

 

I mean, who’s to say that men always have to do the ‘dangerous’ jobs and the physical jobs? Why is it just the guys that seem to play violent sports? (NFL anyone?) ‘Risk-taking behaviour’ is also far more prevalent in men, which includes any and all extreme sports. Putting on suncream is all too often a practise that doesn’t apply to males, stemming from a desire to seem masculine – “The application of lotions to the body is a feminine pastime; masculine men don’t ‘pamper’ or ‘fuss’ over their bodies.”

There are really so many silly factors such as this – that are entirely unavoidable – that are killing half of the population somewhat prematurely. So what can we do to change the negative stigma that surrounds this whole topic of men’s health??

• Try and get men to open up about their feelings and what goes on in their heads more often – even if they’re uncomfortable with it.
• Doing physical activities are far more likely to elicit some form of chat from them.
• Counsellors can be valuable assets.
• Taking a more positive approach to men and their health in general .

 

 

References:

• Courtenay, W. H. (2000). Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men’s well-being: a theory of gender and health. Social Science & Medicine, 50(10), 1385–1401.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton