Louise Howard: addressing gender gaps in mental health

Abstract

It matters where and how you started in life, and what you were exposed to, but it may be possible to be shaped by your experiences in a helpful way. Louise Howard, Professor in Women's Mental Health at Kings College London, appears to embody this precept: “My mother had a disability and my father was a World War 2 Mauthausen (labour and concentration camp) survivor. His mother, whom I am named after, died in Auschwitz. Inevitably that trauma had a huge impact on our family”. She recalls how this created an “atmosphere where another catastrophe might happen at any time.” We needed to be prepared for anything, she says, so education was a priority but, notably, “a lot of stuff was not spoken about”.