International women day 2022 “Women Mental health Awareness” week . Theme: “Gender Equality today for sustainable Tomorrow” .
Every year in the month of March 8th is usually celebrated as International women’s day under a specific
theme .This year also multiple celebrations in connection with International women day were happening
at various institutions such as Government and Non-Governmental under theme for the prompting
awareness and knowledge about Gender inequality usually found in our society. So this year’s theme
focused on the “Gender Equality today for Sustainable tomorrow”.
As part of the women’s mental health promotion and awareness to the community, Aram Psychiatric
hospital has been organizing various lectures and educational programs for the promotion of women
mental health for schools, and colleges. As a part of these initiatives, a special Awareness program was
organized in Jamal Mohammed College, Trichy under the collaboration with the Helping Hearts
Association Students, in the college premises. The Special Guest speaker for this programme from the
Aram Hospital, consultant psychiatrist Dr.Mahesh Rajagopal. Through the interactive sessions he covered
various topics relevant to women’s mental health. He talked about the various women’s mental health
issues and prevalence especially in India. Dr.Magesh elaborately spoke about the common mental
disorders, affecting women in individual, family, and social level and also about Major mental illness
causing disability. He talked mainly about major illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar affective
disorder, Depression and postpartum psychosis and eating disorders and sleeping issues. He talked about
how vulnerable society, especially women and children, should be protected.
He explained about the Anxiety and depression disorder affecting women and the ways to cope. The
psychiatric social worker, Mr. K.Arun Stanley from Aram Hospital spoke about the key points regarding
importance of the women mental health programme for female students .Nearly 150 students from Jamal
Mohamed College participated in the awareness program.
Key facts about Women Mental Health:
- An estimated 80% of 50 million people affected by violent conflicts, civil wars, disasters, and
displacement are women and children - Lifetime prevalence rate of violence against women ranges from 16% to 50%
- Depressive disorders account for close to 41.9% of the disability from neuropsychiatric disorders
among women compared to 29.3% among men - Leading mental health problems of the elderly are depression, organic brain syndromes, and
dementias. A majority are women - The suicide rate by age for India reveals that the suicide rates peak for both men and
women between the age 18 and 29 while in the age group 10–17, the rate for the female
exceeded the male figure - Spousal violence has been found to be specifically associated as an independent risk
factor for attempted suicide in women.
