Gender and Psychiatric Disorders

Abstract

The simple fact of whether one is a male or female can be important in the prevalence, incidence, progression and response to treatment for many medical conditions. This includes autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases along with psychiatric disorders. This is perhaps not too surprising since some of the hormonal factors which lead to gender differences during the developmental stages of life are also responsible for the different physiologies in males and females. In turn, these can also confer differential susceptibility or resistance to different diseases. Considering these differences, why are most diseases treated with the same drugs or drug doses independent of gender? This chapter explores such gender differences in healthy individuals with an emphasis on those which lead to differences in physiology, particularly at the level of the brain and synaptic connectivity. This is covered at the levels of anatomy, hormones and other regulatory molecules, and even cultural factors. Next it describes how these factors can contribute to or give rise to different effects and outcomes in diseases such as schizophrenia, depression and autism. Finally, it introduces the concept of potentially developing different treatment approaches in psychiatric disorders based on the gender of the affected individuals. It is anticipated that this will lead to more effective and safer treatments for all subjects affected by these conditions.