There are many factors that can put women at a greater risk of poor mental health compared with men. It is believed that women are far more likely to talk about what they are going through and seek support through their social networks to help with their mental health.
On this page, we will look into statistics covering women and mental health. We will delve deeper into the different types of problems and share how counselling can help.
Prevalence of key mental health problems among women
Women get more day-to-day mental health care than men, but the gap in hospital and specialist treatment is smaller. Data suggests that women often face more mental health issues each week. However, they are also more likely to seek help than men.1 This can make it difficult to know the true scope of mental health problems.
Research suggests that men and women have similar rates of key mental health issues. However, the types of conditions and the timing of diagnoses vary. For example, women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with anxiety as men.
Anxiety
An average of 37.1% of women report experiencing high levels of anxiety, compared with 29.9% of men. Women are 1.6 times more likely to experience obsessive-compulsive disorder than men2. 21% of women have a specific phobia compared to 10% of men3.
Depression
Depression in women is thought to be higher than in men. The reasons for this are unclear. Biological factors, like hormonal changes, and social factors, such as isolation and poverty, may be possible causes.
Over one in three women aged 16-24 experienced moderate to severe depressive symptoms. More than one in 10 women will experience post-natal depression within a year of giving birth, according to the NHS.
Due to women having an increased life expectancy, they are more likely to outlive their partners than men are. This could trigger a move into residential care, which can cause depression due to new psycho-social factors. Older people typically face difficult life events that don’t occur as often as younger people. These can include bereavement, loss of independence, and loneliness.
Dementia
Nearly two in three (65%) people in the UK living with dementia are women. Women are at a higher risk of developing dementia, due in part to living longer than men, as age is one of the biggest risk factors. Around twice as many women have the most common kind of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease. Other forms of dementia, including frontotemporal and vascular dementia, are more common amongst men.
Eating disorders
Eating disorders can happen to anyone, at any age. However, women – particularly young women – are at the highest risk by far of developing an eating disorder. Research published in the Journal Cerebral Cortex shows that women often have more brain activity linked to negative body perception than men.
According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), in Western countries, between 5.5-18% of young women experience an eating disorder by early adulthood, compared with 0.6-2.4% of young men. Around 8.4% of women will develop an eating disorder during their lifetime, compared with 2.2% of men.
Loneliness
Research shows that 22% of adults in England feel lonely at least some of the time. Women are more likely (24%) to feel lonely at least some of the time than men (20%). More women (6%) reported experiencing chronic loneliness than men (5%). Only 22% of women report that they never felt lonely, compared with 32% of men.
It is worth noting that those who reported bad or very bad health were the most likely to feel lonely (62%), with those from lower-income households or living in more deprived areas being the most likely to feel lonely.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Throughout the world, more women are affected by PTSD due to the amount of exposure to sexual violence. According to the NHS, around 37.4% of women report lifetime trauma (experiences that put them or someone close to them at risk of serious harm of death. For example, a natural disaster, serious car accident, physical abuse, or death by suicide), compared with 32% of men. Around one in twenty adults screens positive for PTSD. Women (6.1%) are more likely than men (5%) to screen positive for PTSD.
Self-harm and suicide
A quarter of adults in England have had thoughts of taking their own life at some point. According to the 2023/24 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey: Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, England, women are more likely than men to make a suicide attempt (8.6% compared with 6.9%) or have self-harmed (12.6% compared with 8.5%). Young women aged 16 to 24 are the most likely to have self-harmed, with 31.7% (compared with 15.4%) reporting having self-harmed.
Of those who took part in the 2023/24 adult psychiatric morbidity survey, 88.5% of women who had self-harmed said they had done so to relieve unpleasant feelings of anger, tension, anxiety or depression. Women were around twice as likely to receive psychological help for self-harm (40.6% compared with 21.6%).
Well-being
According to the Health Survey for England, women have lower average well-being scores (25.8) than men (26.1).
Social and economic factors
The role and status that women hold in society will typically have an effect on their mental health. Some of the more traditional roles women have in ethnic societies in the United Kingdom can increase the likelihood of these effects.
Some of the social factors that can affect women's mental health include:
- Women are typically more likely to care for their children or other relatives than men. This can have an adverse effect on their physical and emotional health, finances and social life.
- Women may juggle several roles within a family - they could be a partner, carer and mother as well as running the household and holding down a job.
- Women are more likely to live in poverty in comparison to men. They are also over-represented in low-status, low-income jobs that are often taken on part-time.
- Sexual and physical abuse, which is more commonly experienced by women, can have a devastating impact on their mental health - this is especially true if no help is sought.
How can counselling help?
Talking therapy can help with a wide variety of issues for people of any gender, age, ethnicity, or socio-economic background. Working with a counsellor can help you to better identify and understand the underlying difficulties you may be facing. With the help of a qualified, experienced therapist, you can gain insight into the root causes of how you are feeling, and you can discover how to process difficult emotions that may feel overwhelming.
A therapist provides a safe, confidential space to explore your problems and find your own solutions, while helping you to learn new coping skills, change unhelpful thought and behaviour patterns, and work towards becoming more resilient. Working with a professional allows you the opportunity to get an outside perspective. Many people find it easier to talk to a professional instead of a friend or family member, as they can offer a different perspective on the situation. It can feel like there is less pressure to say the ‘right’ things, and instead to focus on sharing how you feel, and getting the help that you need. There are many different types of therapy available. Although all can be effective, you may find that one approach fits your situation better than another.
Talking to a professional can be daunting at first, but it is a way to take back control of your life. If you are unsure and want to know more about what happens in a session, you can take a look at our What is counselling? page to get an idea.
If you think you are ready to speak to someone about a problem you are facing, you can search for a counsellor or psychotherapist near you using our advanced search tool.
References
- 1 Pilgrim, D. (2010). 'Mind the gender gap: mental health in a post-feminist context', Oxford textbook of women and mental health.
- 2 Fawcett, E. et al (2020). 'Women Are at Greater Risk of OCD Than Men: A Meta-Analytic Review of OCD Prevalence Worldwide'.
- 3 Fredrikson. M et al (1996). 'Gender and age differences in the prevalence of specific fears and phobias'.
