Mental health has always been a taboo subject, often left in the dark corners of the health care system, where patients find themselves adrift. There is often a gender gap in the health care system, and mental health is no exception (World Health Organization [WHO], 2013).

In the dark parts of our history women who suffered from anxiety and depression were noted to be suffering from “hysteria,” which has been claimed to be the first mental disorder attributed to women. Hippocrates is presumed to be the first person to have used the term hysteria when discussing women and mental health. While we like to think that healthcare has come a long way, we still find that the mental health of women is ignored and that anxiety and depression go undiagnosed (Tasaca et al., 2012).

Women are two times as likely to experience anxiety in their lifetime than men. Often anxiety and depression are treated with counseling, medication, holistic therapy like meditation or yoga, or a combination of therapies (Office of Women's Health [OWH], 2019).

This website does not offer a treatment plan, but does offer information about these disorders in terminology that is easy to understand with accessible resources to get the help you need.