Abstract

L. GAVIRIA, Silvia  and  D. ALARCON, Renato. Psychopathology and Gender: Longitudinal and Historical View Through DSM. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2010, vol.39, n.2, pp.389-404. ISSN 0034-7450.

Introduction: The study of gender and its effects on mental health is a fascinating and growing field of clinical research. The exclusion of women in most clinical studies has generated significant gaps in our knowledge about mental illnesses and their treatments. Objectives: (a) First, to examine relevant areas of the relationship between gender and vulnerability to mental disorders; (b) on the basis of recent research, to review the history of the use of gender in the four versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and, finally, (c) to show the possibilities, advantages and disadvantages of an active consideration of gender in DSM-V, to be published within the next four or five years. Method: The search for studies was conducted through the following databases: PubMed, Medline, Ovid, LILACS, and SciELO. Results and conclusion: Mental illness is the result of a complex matrix of factors such as genetic profile, recent experiences and early life events, social support, religious beliefs, and, of course, gender.

Keywords : Gender; mental disorders; DSM.

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