Survey study, 2003
Is women's mental health really caused by their reproductive biology?
This paper does not test that claim. It looks back at the history of medical ideas linking women's reproductive organs to mental illness and questions whether today's similar assumptions are justified.
What they did
The author reviewed the history of medical thinking about the connection between women's reproductive organs and mental health, comparing ideas from a century ago with current medical thinking.
What they found
Doctors a century ago explained women's mental illness through their biology and this fit the social beliefs of that time. The author found that today's emphasis on women's biology as the explanation for mental illness has similarities to these older ideas, even though today's doctors do not share the old biases about women's place in society.
What it means for you
This is a historical review, not a study of patients or treatments, so it does not prove whether biology explains mental illness in women. It is a reminder to question assumptions about the link between reproductive biology and mental health rather than evidence for or against any specific symptom or treatment.
About the study
- Original title
- Biology and mental illness: a historical perspective
- Authors
- Hirshbein LD
- Journal
- Journal of the American Medical Women's Association (1972)
- Year
- 2003
- Study design
- Survey study
- What was tested
- None. This is a historical and critical review, not a test of any treatment.
- Read the paper
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12744421/