Towards Women‐Sensitive Mental Health Services
| Pages | 19-21 |
| Date | 01 March 2002 |
| Published date | 01 March 2002 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200200005 |
| Author | Marian Barnes,Ann Davis,Helen Rogers,Lorraine Lewis |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
Towards Women-Sensitive Mental
Health Services
Marian Barnes, Ann Davis,
Helen Rogers
Department of Social Policy and
Social Work
University of Birmingham
Lorraine Lewis
Client Partnership
Birmingham
Focus on…
Introduction
The NHS Plan expresses a commitment to the devel-
opment of women-only community day services in
every health authority by 2004. A Women’s Mental
Health Services Strategy is in the process of being
developed. The aim of the strategy is to produce a
framework for the delivery of comprehensive, high
quality, mental health services that meet the needs of
individual women. The specific aims are to:
■acknowledge and address the links between the
social and economic context of women’s lives,
their mental health, and their support and treat-
ment needs
■address specific issues related to gender, race,
age, disability and sexual orientation
■ensure women’s safety, privacy and dignity
■engage with women users on the basis of
partnership
■tackle the impact of organisational culture on
the delivery of high quality services.
This is welcome evidence that the need for gender
awareness within the design and delivery of mental
health care has been recognised. We have been
commissioned to contribute an expert paper on
women-only mental health services, in which we draw
on the substantial existing knowledge about women’s
experiences of mental distress and of the mental
health system.
What are the issues?
There are a number of different sources of information
about women’s experiences of living with mental
health problems and of using mental health services.
These include research evidence of different types,
women’s own accounts of their experiences, material
deriving from campaigns carried out by user groups
and voluntary organisations, and official complaints
and inquiries that have focused in particular on the
negative experiences many women have within
mental health services. We need to consider what each
might tell us and what we can learn from such
evidence about designing mental health services
which are responsive to women’s needs. The key
issues can be summarised under five headings: diagno-
sis, definitions, treatment and services, women’s lives,
using services.
Diagnosis
The distribution of diagnoses of mental illness and
mental disorder differ between women and men.
Women are more likely than men to be diagnosed
with neurotic disorders and (while this is rare) only
women can be diagnosed with premenstrual dysphoric
disorder (PMDD). There is no significant difference
in the diagnosis of schizophrenia, bi-polar affective
disorder and other psychoses, but there are differences
in the way in which these are experienced by women
and men. Since affective disorders are more common
than psychoses women have been over-represented
The Mental Health Review Volume 7 Issue 1 March 2002 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2002 19
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