«Since I have been treated in mental health I have stopped being listened to »
Being a woman is a risk factor for worse mental health. So much so, that 23.4% of women report having poor mental health, compared to 15.6% of men (SESPAS 2020 report). The risk of suffering from depression or anxiety is between two and three times higher in the case of women than in men (National Health Survey 2017).
Being a woman and having a mental health problem are both risk factors for suffering sexist violence. Women who have a mental health problem see the risk of suffering violence from their partner or ex-partner multiplied by four. Up to 80% of women with this health problem have been victims of violence at some moment of their life as a couple. 42% of these women do not identify it as sexist violence. And those who do and report it have the risk of having credibility reduced due to the fact that they have a mental health problem.
Thus, women with mental health problems always experience double discrimination: for being women and for suffering from a mental health problem
Why do women suffer more from mental health disorders?
María del Mar, a user of the mental health services network, a victim of violence in the family for 22 years, and trained in gender matters, tells us about all this.
"Since I have been treated in mental health, I have suddenly stopped being listened to." She thus explains to us how her condition of suffering from the mental health problem makes her feel that her voice, her opinion, her thoughts and decisions are often questioned by the mental health care system.
At times, she has even been forced to "say I'm okay," or to say what the other person expects to hear from her. She has spent years of personal work to better live with her situation and, despite this, she continues to see how "what other people think about my life is more valid than what I express," she says.
Questioning the truthfulness of her words due to the fact of suffering from a mental health problem has occurred in situations as diverse as going to a health center on suspicion of COVID-19 (not on her own initiative, but on the indication of another doctor) or when talking about the mistreatment she suffered. She was the victim of sexual harassment, but she did not dare to report it because she assumed that "no one would believe me and for fear of retaliation."
When a professional asks María del Mar to understand their distrust in the face of what she explains, she feels that the other person minimizes her, does not believe her and re-victimizes her.
According to María del Mar, this type of situation happens to women with mental health problems, not because of communication problems, or because of a mental health diagnosis, but because of a patriarchal culture that "permeates the health care system".
"It has to do with double discrimination. When women with mental health disorders are confident, assertive and requesting rights, we are criminalized, ”she says.
She comments that if she were a man or did not have a mental health problem, she would be more listened to and less questioned.
María del Mar challenges us to do an exercise of introspection, to analyze our gender biases and those linked to mental health, to question our way of seeing and caring for the other, when they are a woman, suffers or has suffered sexist violence, and has a mental health problem. «It is no longer time to continue raising awareness. It is time to change".
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TrebolMente is a non-profit organization created by and for people who want to share their mental illness with others through inclusion and training, mutual aid groups, art and culture.
From this organization, we receive the testimony of a woman, María Mar, who does not feel sufficiently listened to for the simple fact of having a mental health problem. When the condition of being a victim of sexist violence is added to this condition, double discrimination becomes more evident.
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