A study from Oxford University has been making headlines, with findings that women are 40 percent more likely than men to develop mental illness.
The study is based on analysis of other studies from the UK, Europe, the U.S., Asia and New Zealand.
Study may have some critical flaws
To begin with, the research was not a formal meta-analysis, leaving it open to "cherrypicking," and with the study author's recent book on the same subject releasing at about the same time the study published, it's easy to begin to question the findings.
The author himself, Professor Daniel Freeman, admits that there are many complex reasons for studies finding women with higher mental illness rates, not the least of which is social stigma.
Other experts doubt the study's findings
Others in the field have cast doubt on Freeman's study as well. Chief Psychiatrist and Director at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Akwasi Osei, refutes the generalities of Freeman's findings. Osei is reported in MyJoyOnline as saying that women are more likely to suffer from some mental illnesses while men tend to have a higher rate of others, but he doesn't believe that, overall, the preponderance of mental illness is more on one or the other gender.
In the Guardian, Professor Kathryn Abel says much the same. According to the article, "Abel did also note that little good-quality evidence was available to allow us to make more sense of whether or how sex differences were related to any specific physiological factors in different mental health conditions in women, as not much specific research had yet been carried out."
It's likely that the answer to our title question may not be as easy as we might have thought. While Freeman's research does say that women are more susceptible, it's far from conclusive.
