Women and Mental Health
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/13619322200200002 |
| Pages | 3-5 |
| Date | 01 March 2002 |
| Published date | 01 March 2002 |
| Author | Women's Collective |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care |
To put it starkly, we learn to become are own worst
enemies; we become experts at putting ourselves
down, at limiting our potential, not seizing the oppor-
tunities and on relying on others’ assessment of us.
‘I am always expecting to fall flat on my face.’
However, we also feel, maybe paradoxically, that we
have an inner strength, that we will carry on and that
‘we will survive’. Learning to put your own needs
second to those of others often involves tremendous
feelings of guilt but also a sense of indispensability
and that so much depends on you. Our sense of selves
is so bound up with this; but the reality is that women
are immensely skilled at being able to do many things,
often at the same time. This can, however, be easily
compromised and may be far more fragile for those of
us who grew up in situations where there was violence
or abuse. Another dimension is that we have been
brought up not to show anger.
‘I couldn’t be angry when I was little because I would
be hit.’
We know now that silence protects other people but
we have learnt not to express feelings which are
troublesome or difficult for others. This has meant
that we have coped, and some girls and women
continue to live with physical and mental abuse in
silence or to express their anger by directing violence
against themselves.
Personal distress
Our experience of being women means that, at best,
we take our experience and feelings of distress for
granted and at worst we blame ourselves.
‘I thought it was part of every day life, I did not feel
right and thought it was me.’
We often don’t link our feelings of distress to what is
e are writing as a group of women
who have considerable experience of our own mental
health issues and of using or avoiding mental health
services. This is therefore a collective perspective on
women and mental health which builds on our own
personal experiences. We have identified a number of
themes which we see as important and related:
■our experiences of growing up as girls and young
women in this society
■our experience of personal distress
■the response of mental health services
■our hopes for the future.
Becoming a woman
Our experience of mental health issues seems inextri-
cably linked to our experiences of being women in
this society, particularly the ways in which we grew up.
Our shared experience is of learning to construe our
difficulties and life’s challenges in terms of ourselves.
We are struck by the way in which men and women in
general appear to have a different way of attributing
responsibility for difficulties.
‘Bad days just happen to men, but bad days happen to
women because they are bad.’
This reflects the implicit messages we received as we
grew up, many of us in traditional households and
communities where boys flourished, were given
opportunities and were allowed to get away with
things. Our experience as girls was that such opportu-
nities were not open to us, our achievements were
diminished and we were encouraged to do housework.
This has left us doubting our abilities and with a sense
that we have to prove we are as good as if not better
than others.
‘It seems as if to be equal you have to work so much
harder and that you are in any event going to fail.’
The Mental Health Review Volume 7 Issue 1 March 2002 ©Pavilion Publishing (Brighton) 2002 3
Women and Mental Health
Women’s Collective
North West Mental Health Development
Centre
A personal perspective
W
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