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Mental Health of Rural Women

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Mental Health and Illness in Rural World

Part of the book series: Mental Health and Illness Worldwide ((MHIW))

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Abstract

Women from rural areas form a unique group due to the realities of rural living. The various challenges rural women face include gender disadvantage, poverty, poor physical health, roles of caregiving, and being women farmers. Besides gender disadvantage, exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) is also one of the main risk factors for common mental disorders (CMDs) in rural women. Suicide, depression, anxiety, perinatal disorders, somatization, and substance abuse are few of the disorders that rural women often face. Challenges preventing rural women from approaching mental healthcare include an absence of women-friendly mental healthcare services, lack of trained mental health professionals in rural areas or those who understand the unique needs of rural culture, stigma associated with help seeking, poor knowledge about treatment facilities, lack of accessibility to transport, and the high costs of mental health services. Factors that contribute to enhanced vulnerability include older age, widowhood, poverty, and living in areas of armed conflict. HIV infection and comorbid physical illnesses also add to risk. Rural women’s well-being is strongly associated with their physical health, inner well-being, economic security, rural identity, household and family well-being, and community relations. Psychological therapies tailored to the needs of rural women have reported improvement in mental health. Rural women are more accepting of help from their own community-level workers and peer volunteers. Mental health delivery, therefore, has to be tailored to the norms and realities of rural women.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, NIMHANS, Bangalore, India

    Prabha S. Chandra, Diana Ross & Preeti Pansari Agarwal

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  1. Prabha S. Chandra
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  2. Diana Ross
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Correspondence to Prabha S. Chandra .

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  1. N Inst. of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    Santosh Chaturvedi

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Chandra, P.S., Ross, D., Agarwal, P.P. (2019). Mental Health of Rural Women. In: Chaturvedi, S. (eds) Mental Health and Illness in Rural World. Mental Health and Illness Worldwide. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0751-4_12-1

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