Illness and Power

Women's Mental Disorders and the Battle between the Sexes

Brant Wenegrat

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 1995
• Print ISBN: 9780814793107
• eBook ISBN: 9780814784952
• Topic: Psicologia
• Subtopic: Psicopatologia

Since ancient times, physicians have believed that women are especially vulnerable to certain mental illnesses. Contemporary research confirms that women are indeed more susceptible than men to anxiety, depression, multiple personality, and eating disorders, and several forms of what used to be called hysteria.
Why are these disorders more prevalent in women? Brant Wenegrat convincingly asserts that women's excess risk stems from a lack of social power. He reviews women's social power from an evolutionary and cross-cultural perspective and places mental disorders in the context of evolution and societal organization. In this comprehensive look at mental disorders commonly associated with women, Brant Wenegrat convincingly asserts that women's excess risk stems from a lack of social power.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction: Explaining Women's Disorders
• 2 Depression and Anxiety: Responses to Lack of Power
• 3 Women's Mental Disorders as Illness Roles
• 4 Two Modern-Day Epidemics
• 5 An Evolutionary, Cross-Cultural View of Women's Social Power
• 6 Conclusion
• Notes
• Index