Chapter 12 is called Gender and Metal Health, and after reading it and the questions, I have a better understanding of the differences and similarities that both men and women have to face when dealing with health issue. There were quite a few terms throughout the chapter, but only three that I found to be interesting. Epidemiology is the study of the prevalence of mental and physical illness in community samples. Antisocial personality disorder is a personality disorder characterized by pervasive behavioral pattern of disregard for and violation of rights for others. The last one is simple phobia which is an intense and irrational fear of a specific object or event (spiders, public speaking, etc.).
This chapter is definitely an ongoing continuation of our learning in the past chapters, except this time we are dealing with health issues. The first thing that caught my eye, and that I found to be very interesting was the conditions diagnosed more frequently in one gender. In women they found that major depression, dysthymia, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and personality disorders were more commonly diagnosed. As for men substance abuse, conduct disorder, personality disorders, Intermittent explosive disorder, and Pathological gambling were more commonly diagnosed. These diagnoses seem pretty logical to me. Yes, I am sure that both genders can suffer from each one of these health issues, but what I have heard and read from things outside of the book constitutes with what the author has stated in the book. .
The next issue that caught my eye was that of gay and lesbian mental health. I guess you could say that I never really thought of the differences that they could have compared to heterosexual, but it definitely makes sense that there are some. As a group gays and lesbians have somewhat higher rates of depression, substance abuse, and attempted suicide. The author says that they appear to be related to social reclusiveness and the internalization of negative stereotypes.
