6 Reasons You Need a Therapist Who Specializes in Women’s Mental Health
Hello, loves! Welcome to Zyla Care’s blog, a place you can turn to for resources, insights, and all things women’s-mental-health. Zyla Care specializes in therapy for women, and we are passionate about making sure you have everything you need to live healthy, joyful lives in line with your values and goals. The reason we are so passionate about this goal is because we are, first and foremost, women! We know what it’s like to have your concerns and mental health-related questions dismissed by providers, or minimized by well-meaning friends and family.
We hope this blog will be a place you can go to for tips and strategies to get your mental health cared for. It’s written for folks just like you–womxn who are striving to hold a career, a family, a friend group all in balance and still have time for yourself, too. Take a look!
And, if you’d like to talk to someone about your mental health, we would be honored to help you achieve your mental health-related goals.
The decision to begin therapy can be filled with experiences of curiosity, anxiety, exhaustion, excitement, and more. Will I like my therapist? Will my therapist like me? What methods work best for me? These are some of the many questions you may be considering as you look for a therapist. Here at Zyla Care, we encourage you to find a provider who understands the importance of women’s mental health. Here are five reasons why we specialize in therapy for women.
Women are socialized differently than men
Here are some of the social messages I received as a young girl growing up:
“Be quiet and agreeable.”
“Good girls do as they’re told.”
“You need to smile and help others feel comfortable.”
“Girls are organized, mature, and tidy.”
“Be helpful to others.”
“Don’t let them see you cry.”
As a general role, women are socialized to internalize their emotions–keep them inside and not share concerns with others–while men are socialized to externalize their emotions–attribute them to the external world around them. Internalizing emotions can lead to withdrawal, loneliness, and depression. A recent study by the American Psychological Association found that, in part because of these socialization differences, women are more likely to experience anxiety and depression, while men are more likely to experience substance use and antisocial disorders (2).
2. Mental health is experienced differently for women and men
It’s annoying but it’s true–women and men experience things like anxiety, depression, trauma, and neurodivergence differently. The difference in the way men and women experience symptoms–and heal from them, too–is a big reason it’s so important that your mental health provider understands and specializes in providing therapy to women.
An example: did you know women with ADHD are four times more likely to experience symptoms of General Anxiety Disorder(4)? This may be, in part, because girls and women are more likely to go undiagnosed for their ADHD until later in life, due to the differences in presentation (5). In fact, the rate of ADHD diagnosis in the United States is 69% higher for cisgender men than for cisgender women! And while ADHD symptoms are conceptualized by most to remain consistent over time, women actually experience an increase in symptoms as we mature and our estrogen decreases. So many women are never educated about their ADHD symptoms, and therefore not given the tools needed to manage them. Having a therapist who specializes in therapy for women can give you a partner to collaborate with on your unique health care journey.
3. Psychiatric Pretenders
Sometimes what feels like depression, anxiety, and brain fog–symptoms we attribute to our big, beautiful brains–are actually due to imbalances in our beautiful bodies instead. Dr. Kelly Brogan, a holistic psychiatrist and expert in women’s mental health, has identified 5 common psychiatric pretenders. These are a vitamin B12 deficiency (symptoms can include poor balance, confusion, forgetfulness, depression, psychosis, and infertility), hypo or hyperthyroidism (symptoms can include anxiety, irritability, fatigue, and more), reactive hypoglycemia (look for anxiety, irritability, depression, or that familiar “hangry” feeling), gluten sensitivity (brain fog, fatigue, depression, and migraines are common symptoms), and medication-induced symptoms (from common medications such as birth control, antibiotics, and pain-killers) (3).
Talking to your primary care providers about these may not relieve your depression or anxiety; at the least, they rule out these culprits so you and your therapist can focus on other areas of mental health support.
4. Hormones
Raise your hand if, at some time in your life, someone in your circle dismissed your emotional experiences as being “just hormones.” *raises both hands* It’s infuriating, right? Well, here’s the thing. We all–women, men, and nonbinary folks–have hormones that can be out of balance and impact our emotional well-being, our cognitive functioning, our ability to sleep at night, and even our ability to find our partners attractive. Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol are the biggies for women, and all play important roles in our health and wellbeing. Stress, changes in our reproductive cycles, and the medications we take can all nudge those hormones out of balance, leading to a number of health issues, including anxiety and depression (6).
5. Gaslighting
Here’s the other side of having hormones that can impact our mental and physical health: women’s health concerns are frequently dismissed as being only hormones (7). Heart disease is labeled “anxiety,” autoimmune disorders are labeled “depression,” and ovarian cysts are “normal period pain.” This is because all of psychological treatment and training has really centered around the cis-white male experience. So between the dismissal, the mislabeling, and the minimizing of health concerns and experiences, it can be really hard–sometimes it may even feel impossible–to get the care you need. You deserve to have a provider who understands the hurdles you had to leap over just to make it into their office, and who won’t minimize your struggles and concerns.
6. Reproductive Issues
In the introduction to her new book, The Pain Gap: How sexism and racism in healthcare kill women, Anushay Hossain describes her experience of almost dying in labor. She had experienced a healthy pregnancy; the pain of labor, however, had caused such trauma in her body that both she and her infant were at severe risk. It took her child three years to recover from the illnesses developed during her journey through the birth canal, and another three years before Hossain felt recovered from the traumatic stress of that experience. What had caused such dangerous labor and delivery? Doctors did not believe her reports of pain.
The confusion, fear, shame, and lack of clear information women face around the topic of reproductive health–whether the goal is to have a child, not have a child, or recover from childbirth–leads many women to see a therapist who specializes in Women’s Mental Health. A specialist will know how to guide you in asking questions, making decisions that work for you and only you, and holding space for the secret pains you may be carrying around this sensitive and important topic.
Finding the therapist who is right for you can help you break free from anxiety, depression, and heal past trauma. It’s important your provider connects with and gets you, including getting all the pieces that come together to create you exactly as you are. Find a provider who specializes in you. If you need help finding someone who specializes in therapy for women, we welcome you to contact us.
