According to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics, mental illness is experienced equally by men and women. A Time Magazine article would like to challenge that idea.
…this is inaccurate. When you take a detailed look at the international epidemiological data, as we did when writing The Stressed Sex, the picture that emerges is very different – and pretty shocking. It turns out that in any given year total rates of psychological disorder are 20-40% higher in women than men.
The theory behind why the international epidemiological data points in this direction:
What we do know is that social stresses make people vulnerable to mental illness, and research indicates that women’s roles may be especially demanding.Considering that on the whole women are paid less, find it harder to advance in a career, have to juggle multiple roles, and are bombarded with images of apparent female “perfection”, it would be amazing if there wasn’t some emotional cost. Women are also, of course, much more likely to have experienced childhood sexual abuse, a trauma that all too often results in lasting psychological damage.
It is an interesting proposition, but I’m inclined not to dismiss WHO’s figures so quickly.
Read more here.