Gender, Neuroscience, & PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)

May 16, 2014

Sari van Anders

One of our members, Mallory Bowers, has an interesting post called “(en)Gendering psychiatric disease: what does sex/gender have to do with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?” It’s up on the Neuroethics Blog. It starts out:

As I’ve become more entrenched in the PTSD field, I’ve been struck by the prominent sex/gender difference in the prevalence of PTSD (among many other psychiatric disorders) and the categorical use of male animal models. As researchers begin to explore sex differences in animal models of stress, anxiety, and fear, evidence suggests that male animals are more vulnerable to acute and chronic stress, while females appear to be more resilient (Cohen and Yehuda 2011). The results of these animal studies contradict the human epidemiological data, with lifetime prevalence of PTSD at 10-14% in women and 5-6% in men in the United States (Breslau, Davis, et al. 1991, Breslau, Davis, et al. 1997, Kessler, Sonnega, et al. 1995, Resnick, Kilpatrick, et al. 1993). In this post, I’d like to explore the ways in which socio-cultural conditioning genders an individual’s sense of self, influences definitions and language surrounding mental health, and supports frameworks of gender bias (a putative low-grade, chronic stressor) – potentially contributing to sex/gender differences observed in the prevalence of certain psychiatric disorders, specifically PTSD. (continue reading here).

[Image of the brain created from words related to PTSD such as anxiety, flashbacks, trigger, and more]

Continue reading here!