This is modern Britain – no wonder young women have PTSD
Women’s mental health is under increasing pressure, from body image to pornography, domestic violence to debt. But amid the gloom, there is hope
Most people know that when it comes to mental health there is something of a gender gap. But what you might not know is that it appears to be widening. Every seven years, the NHS carries out a rigorous assessment of Britain’s mental health and its citizens’ corresponding access to treatment services. The latest shows an alarming spike in psychiatric disorders – treated and untreated – in young women. While the prevalence of mental illness remained stable for men, it rose for women. Young women in particular have been dubbed a high-risk group.
For young women, this is unlikely to come as a surprise. There are positives to be taken from the survey: better access to mental health services, improved diagnosis and less stigma will mean more mental health problems are reported. But the fact remains that we face a unique set of pressures living in modern Britain (which is not to say that young men do not face pressures of their own – a point I will come to). Though young women outperform young men academically and often earn more, there are plenty of contextual factors that make our lives more difficult, and us more vulnerable to mental health problems.
Body image is probably a significant factor in young women experiencing psychological distress. The overwhelming sense that, despite your achievements, you will be judged on your body above all else can be crushing, contributing to eating disorders and feelings of low self-worth. The impact of pornography on sexual relationships has led some young women to feel subservient and disempowered, not to mention subject to sexual acts reported to be painful and unwanted. Both these social trends are exacerbated by the media and technology.
There are economic factors at play, too. Women are more likely to be in low-paid work, and are more likely to be carers – an isolating and impecunious pursuit, I can tell you from experience. Ideological Tory cuts have disproportionately affected women.
Post-traumatic stress disorder in young women, meanwhile, no doubt relates to us being the highest risk group for sexual violence. Domestic violence affects us too, as does the corresponding closure of women’s refuges. The closure and underfunding of maternity units obviously affects women who might go on to suffer PTSD post-childbirth.
This might be all too depressing for you, but sometimes these things need to be laid bare. We have known for some time that there is a mental health epidemic among both young men and young women. We are the generation at risk of being “left behind”, with both genders battling to find some kind of stability amid a housing crisis, unstable working conditions, mounting student debt, and, on top of all that, for women, that infernal biological clock and, if you have children, attendant childcare responsibilities and the unfair division of domestic labour.
But there is hope in all this, a beacon in the gloom. As I noted above, increased and better diagnosis of mental illness is probably a factor in the spike. When my mum had PTSD in the 1980s, she only realised from having read about it afterwards, in a book. When I was diagnosed in 2010 after being attacked by a stranger as I walked home, the GP referred me for treatment immediately. But it wasn’t just his expertise; my mother’s openness meant I was able to spot the symptoms, and gave me the courage to seek help.
Lots of us know already that women are more likely to go to the doctor when something is wrong, while men suffer in silence, taught that vulnerability is a source of shame, that big boys don’t cry. But women are also more and increasingly open with one another about mental illness. Our psychological health is a frequent topic of conversation. My female friends and I have discussed, without shame, everything from depression to panic attacks to suicide attempts to miscarriages to cocaine-induced paranoia (drugs and alcohol use are so obviously a factor in mental illness) to eating disorders and OCD. Recently I talked a good friend through a bout of crippling anxiety as she stood on the phone in the corridor at work. Do this breathing exercise, I said, before reeling off a list of my well-tried coping mechanisms.
It breaks my heart that my male peers lack this support system, so that they are often so ashamed to speak out. This is a prime example of how patriarchal values harm people of both genders. These are, after all, the men we love. Young women may be a high-risk group and the suicide rate among this demographic is rising, but things are no picnic for young men either, and it is important to note that the mental health crises they experience are much more likely to end in suicide. I know guys who have battled eating disorders, panic attacks, crippling depression, social anxiety and psychotic episodes. Many of the men I know have been beaten up at one time or another. “I was jumpy in pubs for months afterwards,” one told me. Hypervigilance, I thought. PTSD.
The dismantling of the NHS and its effect on mental health services is something that affects us all. Some of us are lucky; I am writing this on a train from Manchester to London. Eight months ago, when my PTSD came back after the Paris terrorist attacks, I couldn’t get onto a train without Valium and beta blockers. I would stand in the vestibule hyperventilating, convinced I was going to die. Looking back now, I realise I was completely and properly mad. I was seriously ill. And now I’m not, thanks to medication and 16 sessions of trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy.
But, while I waited for the CBT, I saw a therapist on Harley Street. Not everyone has that luxury, even on a reduced rate. And that is a crime. Tackling stigma and speaking openly about mental illness is one thing, but once you’ve built up the courage to go to the doctor, the services need to be there. Or else you are fighting a losing battle, and all too often are doing so alone.
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