Despite the fact that women are more likely to seek mental health therapy than men, they still need a different approach to treatment.
Women have different life experiences that can potentially contribute to their risk of developing mental health issues like anxiety or depression.
For instance, women have a higher likelihood of experiencing childhood trauma, which puts them at a higher risk of psychopathology later on.
Similarly, more women are victims of sexual abuse than men, so they’re more likely to develop conditions like PTSD and borderline personality disorder.
Even though women experience the same mental health issues as men, symptoms can differ. That’s why it’s important that therapists take a specialized approach that focuses on women’s experiences when treating their issues.
Let’s look at how mental disorders can appear differently in women and the different treatment options available.
Symptoms of Mental Disorders In Women
Women who develop mental disorders tend to experience them in a different way than men. Specifically, they experience more internalizing conditions, like anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, while men have a tendency to externalize.
Although men and women can develop the same conditions, women’s symptoms cause them to turn inward. As a result, they exhibit social withdrawal, loneliness, and rumination.
They may retreat from parts of their life, such as work responsibilities and recreational activities, and internalize their emotions as well.
Individual Psychotherapy
Among the different mental health therapies available, individual psychotherapy is the most common. It involves interacting with a therapist one-on-one at your own pace.
For women who have escaped abusive situations and are unable to form trusting relationships with others, individual psychotherapy is a good place to start. It gives them a comfortable environment to discuss their experiences and build a rapport with their therapist.
Group Therapy
Women who struggle with mental health issues may feel like they’re the only ones going through something like this. And when these issues negatively affect their ability to look after themselves or their family, it can do a number on their self-esteem.
Group therapy offers a comfortable environment for women to talk about these issues and realize that they’re not alone. It also acts as a support system that celebrates your milestones and motivates you to achieve bigger goals. At the United Recovery Project, group therapy is a crucial part of clients’ daily treatment plans.
Family Therapy
There are situations when women’s home environment or relationships exacerbate their mental health issues. In these cases, family therapy sessions provide the client with a safe space to discuss their problems with family members. Similarly, loved ones can open up about the struggles they face as a result of the person’s diagnosis.
The therapist will help you and your loved ones build problem-solving and coping skills to address issues that may arise as a result of your mental health issues. For instance, if you’re in the middle of a depressive episode and need to complete an important task, your therapist will guide family members on how to support you so that you get it done.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Mental health practitioners rely on a range of evidence-based therapies as a way to address mental health issues. Among these, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the most common, and it’s highly effective.
It’s systematic, streamlined, and objective, which allows therapists to measure results. The core of CBT is that it helps women spot faulty thought patterns linked to unhelpful patterns.
Your therapist will guide you in reinterpreting and reevaluating those thoughts in a less-negative way. When you no longer interpret certain thoughts negatively, you don’t display unhelpful or harmful behaviors.
Instead, you adopt healthy coping strategies as recommended by your therapist.
Dialectic Behavioral Therapy
Women make up the majority of borderline personality disorder diagnoses, a condition that’s characterized by experiencing intense emotions. Mental health professionals rely on a specialized technique derived from CBT, known as dialectical behavioral therapy, to treat BPD.
Research indicates that DBT is quite effective for treating women with BPD, especially if they have a history of engaging in suicidal or self-harm behavior.
Over the course of this treatment, your therapist works on your ability to tolerate stress and sustain healthy interpersonal relationships. Using different coping strategies, you learn to navigate difficult situations without responding in unhelpful ways.
EMDR Therapy
Because women have a high rate of exposure to childhood trauma and sexual abuse, they’re three times more likely to develop PTSD than men. The condition can occur when women fail to process the traumatic event, which results in behavioral and emotional disturbances.
However, attempting to treat the condition with talk therapy requires them to relive the experience by retelling it, which can be difficult. In contrast, EMDR therapy reprocesses the event to change how you think and feel about it. This can ease negative and unhelpful coping behaviors like hypervigilance and social isolation.
Art Therapy
Art therapy can benefit women who have trouble talking about painful experiences. During a session, you work with a specialist and use a specific medium to create something.
The process alleviates feelings of stress and helps in managing intense emotions. When you discuss the contents of your work with your therapist, it creates a sense of self-awareness and fosters your self-worth.
Holistic Therapies
In addition to evidence-based treatments, women can benefit from holistic therapies. Also known as eclectic therapy, it focuses on the mind-body connection to achieve overall wellness. These typically include:
Mindfulness
Studies show that compared to men; women are more prone to rumination. It involves dwelling on negative feelings and repetitively thinking about the causes of their distress. Research shows that mindfulness is an effective tactic to reduce rumination.
That’s because it encourages you to focus on the here and now, which has a positive effect on your well-being. Besides alleviating symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders, it can reduce blood pressure and help you sleep.
Neurofeedback
Also known as biofeedback therapy, it’s an effective method to address different symptoms of mental disorders. While approaches like CBT focus on thoughts to address behaviors, neurofeedback is the opposite.
It emphasizes controlling the body’s functions, like breathing patterns and heart rate, to change how you feel.
Your therapist will connect you to an EEG machine so you can monitor your brain waves and try stabilizing them when they move out of the normal range.
They may opt for positive reinforcement, providing you with a reward each time you control your brain waves so they return to the optimal range. It’s a highly effective technique to build a stronger mind-body connection.
Other holistic therapy options include yoga, therapeutic massage, animal-assisted therapy, and acupuncture. All of these are beneficial for enhancing relaxation, while some are specifically proven to reduce pain and fatigue.
Keep in mind that it’s not necessary that you undergo all these types of therapies to improve your mental health. Your psychiatrist will recommend specific therapies based on your diagnosis and reported symptoms.
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