Drawing of a woman's face in profile

Friday – Women’s experiences of mental health

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Drawing of a woman's face in profile

Gender-based differences may emerge from biological, psychosocial, or more external factors. The latter refers to the cultural, social, economic, and political processes that ultimately lead to differing mental health risks between women and men. Biomedical factors alone do not determine health inequalities, rather, the presence and interaction of social determinants can influence vulnerabilities and resilience to mental health problems.

The … Read more

Older woman looking out a window

Thursday – Menopause and depression

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Older woman looking out a window

Menopause usually begins around the age of 50 occurring 12 months after a woman’s last menstrual period. The menopausal transition, and more specifically perimenopause, is when the body’s production of oestrogen and progesterone slows bringing on hormonal fluctuations that can have adverse effects on women’s mental health with some women more at risk to these changes than others. The mood … Read more

Wednesday – Perinatal depression

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Perinatal depression includes a wide range of mood disorders that affect a woman during pregnancy and postpartum. It includes prenatal depression, the ‘baby blues’, postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

The 2010 Australian National Infant Feeding Survey showed that one in five mothers meet clinical criteria for depression in the first two years of the child’s birth (postnatal) and more than … Read more

Tuesday – Young women’s mental health

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Gendered patterns of mental health problems begin in youth with nearly one in five Australian older adolescent women found to meet clinical criteria for depression in the Second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. However, the same report observed lower rates in parents’ and carers’ perception of major depressive disorder in their children. This suggests that … Read more

Monday – Women’s Mental Health

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Mental health is important to everyone – so why focus on women?

There are many mental health issues unique to women for example relating to reproductive health like postnatal depression, perimenopausal depression, and effects of hormonal contraception. Other mental health problems affect everyone, however economical, social, political and environmental factors can lead to gender inequalities, negative life experiences and gender … Read more