Sex is correlated with the prevalence of certain mental disorders, including depression, anxiety and somatic complaints. For example, women are more likely to be diagnosed with major depression, while men are more likely to be diagnosed with substance abuse and antisocial personality disorder. There are no marked gender differences in the diagnosis rates of disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Men are at risk to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to past violent experiences such as accidents, wars and witnessing death, and women are diagnosed with PTSD at higher rates due to experiences with sexual assault, rape and child sexual abuse. People who identify as transgender, nonbinary or gender queer show increased risk for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Sigmund Freud postulated that women were more prone to neurosis because they experienced aggression towards the self, which stemmed from developmental issues. Freud's postulation is supplemented by the idea that societal factors, such as gender roles, may play a major role in the development of mental illness. When considering gender and mental illness, one must look to both biology and social/cultural factors to explain areas in which men and women are more likely to develop different mental illnesses. A patriarchal society, gender roles, personal identity, social media, and exposure to other mental health risk factors have adverse effects on the psychological perceptions of both men and women.
Gender differences in mental health
Gender-specific risk factors
Gender-specific risk factors increase the likelihood of getting a particular mental disorder based on one's gender. Some gender-specific risk factors that disproportionately affect women are income inequality, low social ranking, unrelenting child care, gender-based violence, and socioeconomic disadvantages. This is an especially important factor to look at because women's statistics with mental health changed as their gender roles improved from traditional to opportunistic. Women have higher levels of psychiatric morbidities when compared and are highly likely to be diagnosed with depression, while men are most likely diagnosed with alcohol dependency.
Anxiety Women experience a higher rate of General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) than men. Women are around 15% more likely to experience comorbidities with GAD than men. Anxiety disorders in women are more likely to be comorbid with other anxiety disorders, bulimia, or depression. Women are two and a half times more likely to experience Panic Disorder (PD) than men, and are also twice as likely to develop specific phobias. Additionally, Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) occurs among women more frequently than men.
Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) is present among both men and women at similar rates, though men tend to have an earlier onset of symptoms. Men are more likely to experience more aggressive, sexual, religious, and social impairments while women are more likely to experience fear of contamination.
Gender is not a significant factor in predicting the effectiveness of pharmacological interventions or cognitive behavioral therapy in treating GAD.
Depression Major depressive disorder is twice as common in women compared to men. This increased rate is partially related to women's increased likelihood to experience sexual violence, poverty, and higher workloads. Depression in women is more likely to be comorbid with anxiety disorders, substance abuse disorders, and eating disorders. Men are less likely to seek treatment for or discuss their experiences with depression. Men are more likely to have depressive symptoms relating to aggression than women. Women are more likely to attempt suicide than men; however, more men die from suicide due to the different methods used. In 2019, the suicide rate in the United States was 3.7 times higher for men than women.
The presence of a gender bias results in an increased diagnosis of depression in women than men.
Diagnostic assessment can be affected when symptoms are variable, easily overlooked, or interpreted through a narrow clinical frame.Khan Mohammad Beigi, P. (2017). Clinician’s Guide to Mycosis Fungoides (pp. 13–16). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47907-1 In depression, some researchers have argued that this concern may be relevant to men whose distress is less likely to be reported, recognized, or captured by conventional diagnostic expectations.Shi, P., Yang, A., Zhao, Q., Chen, Z., Ren, X., & Dai, Q. (2021). A Hypothesis of Gender Differences in Self-Reporting Symptom of Depression: Implications to Solve Under-Diagnosis and Under-Treatment of Depression in Males. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12(12).
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.589687 Shi et al. proposed that male depression may be underdiagnosed or undertreated when emotional inexpressiveness, non-help-seeking, and symptom presentations that differ from traditional expectations make depressive distress less visible.
Male-typical depressive symptoms may include externalizing or behavioral features such as irritability, aggression, substance use, and risk-taking, which may not lead to help-seeking in the same way as traditional depressive symptoms.Call, J. B., & Shafer, K. (2015). Gendered Manifestations of Depression and Help Seeking Among Men. American Journal of Men’s Health, 12(1), 41–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988315623993 Call and Shafer found that traditional depressive symptoms were associated with increased help-seeking, whereas male-typical symptoms were not. Researchers have proposed male-sensitive depression scales as complementary tools to help identify symptom domains such as emotional suppression, anger, substance misuse, risk-taking, and somatic complaints.Jabłonka, D., Łądkowska, M., Kossak, N., Modzelewski, S., & Waszkiewicz, N. (2026). Gender-Sensitive Depression Scales: A Review of Male-Specific Assessment Tools. Diagnostics, 16(6), 925. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics16060925 However, these tools are not replacements for clinical diagnosis, and current evidence still requires further clinical, longitudinal, and cross-cultural validation.Wu, D., Schaller, E., Nariman, R., & Beigi, P. (2026, May 12). Gender-Sensitive Screening and the Recognition of Depression in Men. MARI | Misdiagnosis Association and Research Institution. https://mariresearch.com/gender-sensitive-screening-and-the-recognition-of-depression-in-men/
Postpartum depression Both men and women experience postpartum depression. Maternal postpartum depression affects around 15% of women in the United States, and around 8-10% of American fathers experience paternal postpartum depression (PPPD). Postpartum depression is under-diagnosed. Women experiencing PPD have trouble seeking treatment due to the difficulties of accessing therapy and not being able to take some psychiatric medications due to breastfeeding. Risk factors for paternal PPD include a history of depression, poverty, and hormonal changes.
Eating disorders In the United States, women constitute 85-95% of people with anorexia nervosa and bulimia and 65% of those with a binge-eating disorder. Factors that contribute to the gender disproportionality of eating disorders are perceptions surrounding "thinness" in relation to success and sexual attractiveness and social pressures from mass media that are largely targeted towards women. Between males and females, the symptoms experienced by those with eating disorders are very similar such as a distorted body image.
Contrary to the stereotype of eating disorders' association with females, men also experience eating disorders. However, gender bias, stigma, and shame lead men to be underreported, underdiagnosed, and undertreated for eating disorders. It has been found that clinicians are not well-trained and lack sufficient resources to treat men with eating disorders. Due to these factors, research regarding eating disorders in men continues to be limited. Despite this, recent research suggests that the prevalence of eating disorders in men is increasing, the reason being a result of more men seeking help and acknowledging their struggle. Men with eating disorders are likely to experience muscle dysmorphia.
Studies have shown elevated outcomes of disordered eating in gender-diverse populations. In an analysis of 20,821 pediatric outpatient individuals, research suggested that individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria were twice as likely to be diagnosed with an eating disorder compared to cis-gender youth counterparts. With individuals struggling with gender dysphoria, disordered eating may serve as a method of alleviating the distress associated with gender dysphoria through the modification of body features through eating pathology. Transgender and gender-diverse youth have shown increased disordered eating patterns when having experienced higher rates of discrimination and harassment.
Gender differences in adolescence and mental health Adolescents experience mental illness differently than adults, as the brains of children are still in their prime developing stages. Children also approach goals differently, which in turn can cause different reactions to stressors such as bullying.
Bullying Status enhancement is a main driver of bullying. A bully's gender and the gender of their target can impact whether they are accepted or rejected by a gender group. A study by René Veenstra et al. reported that bullies were more likely to be rejected by peer groups who saw them as a possible threat. The study cited an example of a male elementary school bully who was rejected by his female classmates for targeting a female student, whereas a male bully who only targeted other males was accepted by females but rejected by his male classmates.
Eating disorders The fashion industry and media have been cited as potential factors in the development of eating disorders in adolescents and pre-adolescents. Eating disorders have been found to be most common in developed countries and per scholars such as Anne Becker, the introduction of television has prompted an increase of eating disorders in media-naïve populations. Females are more likely to have an eating disorder than males and scholars have stated that this has become more common "during the latter half of the twentieth century, during a period when icons of American beauty (Miss America contestants and Playboy centerfolds) have become thinner and women's magazines have published significantly more articles on methods for weight loss". With the expansion of social media, research findings suggest an association between social media usage and engagement in disordered eating. Other potential reasons for eating disorders among adolescents and pre-adolescents can include anxiety, food avoidance emotional disorder, food refusal, selective eating, pervasive refusal, or appetite loss as a result of depression.
Suicide Data has shown that suicide is the third leading cause of death in adolescents and that gender has an impact on the avenue an adolescent may use when attempting suicide. Males are known more to use guns in their suicide attempts, whereas females are more likely to cut their wrists or take an overdose of pills. Triggers for suicide among adolescents can include poor grades and relationship issues with significant others or family members. Research has reported that while adolescents share common risk factors such as interpersonal violence, existing mental disorders and substance abuse, gender specific risk factors for suicide attempts can include eating disorders, dating violence, and interpersonal problems for females and disruptive behavior/conduct problems, homelessness, and access to means. They also reported that females are more likely to attempt suicide than their male counterparts, whereas males are more likely to succeed in their attempts.