Gender and Psychopathology

Abstract

What role does gender play in psychopathology? Do women and men, girls and boys experience different types of psychological disorders? Do they experience the same disorder in different ways? Are they treated differently by the mental health system? Do recommended treatments work equally well for males and females? Should treatments take the sex of the client into account? Does it matter whether the therapist is female or male? What difference does gender make? And, if gender makes a difference, why? Do biological and/or sociocultural factors account for these differences? This chapter tackles these questions. In the end we will discover that these questions raise more questions. Clear-cut answers are scarce, but the questions themselves shed light on the process of psychological diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. Finally, although this chapter focuses on gender, gender interacts with culture, race/ethnicity, Socioeconomic Status, ability, age, and other variables to form unique experiences for individuals. Hence, gender must be understood as a potentially multidimensional as opposed to a unidimensional variable.

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