Women and mental illness: a LinkedIn post from Suzanne McKie KC

Suzanne McKie QC has published a LinkedIn post on an important report regarding the deterioration of mental health amongst women. The post is reproduced below.

“Based on a Report by the Mental Health Foundation (available on its website), the article refers to the increase in self-harm in recent years and that women are significantly more likely than men to suffer from PTSD. The MHF Report refers to the increasing deterioration in the mental health of young women and widening gap between women and men where mental illness is concerned. The Report also cites domestic violence, abuse, social media, online culture and pornography as being principally to blame for an increase in mental illness amongst young women. Perhaps now more than ever we need to further address the particular pressures now on women to be perfect in what we do (as mothers, in terms of career etc), how we look and how we behave. That and the palpable way in which women still continue to self-blame.”