Here you will find regularly updated information on how the occurrence, treatment, and outcomes of mental illnesses differ between men and women, how the Consortium promotes research that takes these differences into account, and how it seeks to encourage public policy that reflects the results of this research, to the benefit of both women and men. The Consortium furthers the study of mental health throughout the female life span. The objective is to improve the health and life quality of both girls and women who are directly or indirectly affected by mental illness. Research that benefits the mental health of both men and women is clearly a pressing need. In this country alone, mental illness affects an estimated 40 million adults and up to 9 million children and adolescents.
Suicide is the nation's eighth leading cause of death.
While both genders are burdened by the tremendous personal and financial toll that mental illness exacts, females suffer in higher numbers from certain conditions. Women are affected twice as often as men by most forms of depression and anxiety disorders, for instance, and nine times as often by eating disorders. In addition to these epidemiologic disparities, there are disparities between men and women in the ways mental illnesses occur. All mental disorders, including those such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder that affect males and females equally, occur at different ages for women and men, exhibit different types and patterns of symptoms, and require different treatment responses. The implications of these epidemiologic and clinical differences are important, too, for planning research programs and developing policy related to prevention, treatment, and mental health services.