Women mental health in India.

Abstract

Byline: Indira. Sharma, Abhishek. Pathak reason firm, the temperate will,Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;A perfect woman, nobly planned,To warn, to comfort, and command. William Wordsworth. Why talk of women mental health? This is the objection of many psychiatrists. In the present scenario, when there are global concerns about gender equality and many international conventions have resolved against any form of discrimination against women, prioritizing women mental does not seem to be justified. It has been argued that the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology, in medical science, exclusively caters to the specific needs of women, but there is no such exclusive mental discipline for men. [sup][1] The Constitution of India gave to women, the fundamental right to equality and the Right not to be discriminated against on grounds of religion, caste, and sex. To undo the injustice done to them, the Constitution included a special provision in article 15 (3), permitting the State to positively discriminate in favor of women by enacting laws/provisions so as to ameliorate their social, economic and political condition and to accord them parity. Gender has been described as a critical determinant of mental and mental illness. [sup][2] The culture is unique. Joint family system, patriarchy, marriage a must, especially women; marriage is a sacrosanct union, permanent union; subservient status of daughter-in-laws at home, preference for the male child, practice of dowry, lower educational status of women, strict code of conduct for females, and primary roles of women being childbearing and child rearing, and the Indian Paradox (the married woman with severe mental illness, subjected to domestic violence (DV) makes frantic efforts for restitution of conjugal rights rather than for separation or divorce), are all part of the culture. [sup][3],[4] These factors significantly affect the occurrence, manifestations, treatment, and outcome of mental disorders in women of India. Thus women mental can be conceptualized as having a wide range of related areas, including reproductive psychopharmacology, psychosocial determinants of mental and legal issues. However, traditionally, women mental is conceived in terms of reproductive other areas have received little attention. The Psychiatric Society was formed in January 07, 1947. The first paper, [sup][5] with a special focus on women's appeared in 1969 on the causal factors of puerperal psychosis. in the younger age group, coming from rural areas and from lower or lower middle-class income group, and usually in their first or second para were most prone to develop puerperal psychosis. A manual search of articles published in the Journal of Psychiatry since its inception found 2 presidential addresses, the first on Women and mental health [sup][6] and the other on Marriage, mental and legislation; [sup][7] one editorial; [sup][8] 9 original papers, 4 case reports, and one oration on Interface between psychiatry and women's reproductive and sexual health, [sup][9] that have discussed exclusively women related issues. [sup][1] From 2009 until date, there have been 16 publications on women mental health: 1 presidential address, 1 book review, 2 editorials, 2 letters to the editor, 4 research papers, and 6 review articles. Of these, 10 (62%) have focused on violence against women. These include the presidential address on Violence against women: Where are the solutions? [sup][4] 2 guest editorials (Sexual coercion: Time to rise to the challenge and Sexual abuse in women with special reference to children: Barriers, boundaries, and beyond), 3 review articles and 2 research papers and 2 letters to the editor. A review of the research on issues specific to women published mainly in the Journal of Psychiatry reported that Psychiatrists have worked in a wide range of areas, including psychological aspects of different reproductive phases: Pregnancy, puerperium, menopause, menstrual cycle, psychological consequences of contraception, infertility and surgical loss of uterus or breast; suicide, relationship between DV and mental suicidal behavior, and epidemiological trends. …