Depression and Gender Stereotypes

Posting Date: 08/25/2003

?We thought for sure that we?d find lots of articles about how these drugs helped women balance home and family, and describing them rushing off to high-paying job,? says Metzl, a psychiatrist. ?But that depiction was not anywhere near as common or as powerful as the stereotype of the woman as the mother and wife. Meanwhile, at a time when men were reportedly getting in touch with their feelings, men?s roles as fathers or husbands ? or even men?s emotions ? received nowhere near as much coverage as did the ?depression? of not performing on the job or the playing field.?

Metzl notes that this trend is important for patients and their doctors, because it may influence the way they communicate with each other about mental health concerns.

?It?s not that the media are doing a bad job covering these issues, but rather that gender stereotypes are pervading the way we talk about mental illness ? for better or for worse,? says Metzl, an assistant professor of psychiatry and director of the Program in Culture, Health and Medicine at the U-M Medical School and a member of the Women?s Studies Program.

?Stereotypes are, of course, often based in lived experience,? he continues. ?But at the same time, many articles implied that people who don?t adhere to these stereotypes need to be medicated.?

The phenomenon echoes observations made in Metzl?s recently released book, ?Prozac on the Couch: Prescribing Gender in the Era of Wonder Drugs?, which takes a historical look at advertisements for psychiatric medications in the mass media and medical journals, from tranquillizers such as Miltown in the 1950s through Valium in the 1970s and Prozac, Paxil and Serafem today.

In the book, and in an upcoming article in Ms. magazine, Metzl explores how drug ads from the 1950s to today have shown women and men with mental health concerns in light of the gender norms of the time. ?When new drugs come out, they shift our categories of normal versus treatable,? he explains. ?And that happens in the context of preconceived cultural notions and expectations.?

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