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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Clarion chapter.

Women are 40% more likely to develop mental illnesses in their lifetime than men. Environmental factors are a strong reason as to why women develop mental illness in their lifetime. Women are expected to be a lot more than just a human being; they are expected to be quiet, respectful, petite, flowery, abstinent, submissive, etc.

 

All of those weights pressing down on her shoulders quickly strips away the layers of her mental health. There is so much that that a woman has to remember that she forgets to take care of her mental health. Soon she will develop something that will be with her for the rest of her life. Once the chemistry of your brain changes it never goes back. It sure can feel like you are back to what you were, there will come a day that the mental illness will rear its ugly head and it will get worse.

 

One of the most important things a woman should do to take care of her mental health is to love herself. Women often think bad of themselves and continually try to change themselves over and over again. This has a negative effect on their psyche and they will always want to be something different and when they can’t achieve that, they will fall into a depression.

 

Surrounding herself with good people is another important thing for a woman’s mental health. People who are always negative – not only to themselves but to you and other people – is extremely taxing on the psyche. These people can create extreme anxiety in a person, when they think they will be under fire for anything they say, but they can also create extreme depression, if the woman begins to believe what the negative friend is saying. Cutting those people out of your life may be hard, exhausting and emotionally taxing, it will only help in the long run and your mental health will slowly start to repair itself after that.

 

The last important thing for a woman’s mental health is to learn how to properly deal with stress. Stress is bad for the psyche and can help in the development of anxiety. From taking a walk to deal with stress or taking a break from what is stressing you out can really help your mental health. Sometimes the brain just needs something calm and something different to find an equilibrium once again.

 

Take care of yourself!

Senior English major! Writing is one of my favorite things to do! Adventure! "It takes a little push to pull on through"