Women and Mental Health

Abstract

This article refers to the difficulties that arise when we attempt to study women’s psychopathological problems. Female specificity in becoming sick has, led us to postulate what we shall call gender pathologies. In defining these «pathologies», we shall center on a paradigmatic phenomenon of female discomfort: the state of depression. This is followed by an analysis of the problems that appear with the customary treatment of women’s discomfort with medication. Alternative approaches based on self-help and therapeutical women’s groups are suggested.