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This paper aims to call the public health and mental health communities to action by making women’s mental health a public health priority.

This conceptual paper introduces a “Female Psychology” approach to framing and interpreting mental health narratives and public health discourses. It also draws upon lifecourse research as a way of better understanding mental illness.

This paper calls for action to prioritise women’s mental health on the public health agenda like has never previously been done before.

New theoretical bases for research and practice are presented, encouraging the adoption of a “Female Psychology” approach to women’s lifecourses and mental health narratives.

Suggestions for changes to how we view, diagnose and treat women’s mental health are incorporated, ensuring women’s mental health narratives are placed firmly at the centre of their care and support.

Women’s mental health has long been marginalised and dismissed as exaggerated and/or insignificant, and therefore has not had the economic-, personnel- and time-resource allocated to it, which it so desperately requires. This paper aims to tip the imbalance.

This paper, though conceptual, offers “Female Psychology” as both a practical and pragmatic approach to improving women’s mental health research, practice, and care. It is the first of its kind to, so directly, call the public health and mental health communities to prioritise women’s mental health.

In this article we explore how inpatient mental health services in England and Wales are interpreting and responding to policy derived from Mainstreaming Gender and Women's Mental Health (DH, 2003) in relation to women's safety in inpatient settings. This article will outline the background to concerns about safety in mental health settings for women and drawing on relevant literature and on interviews with service managers, practitioners and users identify some current issues in improving safety for women in inpatient settings and in creating single sex provision. Our review suggests that whilst there are improvements in provision for women in inpatient settings, some women are still not being offered a real choice of a women‐only setting on admission to hospital, and that changing the culture that permits a lack of physical and relational safety for women presents real challenges. We will discuss some of the implications for future practice.

The purpose of this paper is to describe Karen refugee women’s experience of resettlement and the factors which structured community capacity to support their mental health and well-being.

A postcolonial and feminist standpoint was used to bring Karen women’s voice to the knowledge production process. Data were collected through ethnographic field observation, in-depth semi-structured individual and focus group interviews with Karen women as well as healthcare and social service providers.

Three interrelated themes emerged from the data: Karen women’s construction of mental health as “stress and worry”; gender, language and health literacy intersected, shaping Karen women’s access to health care and social resources; flexible partnerships between settlement agencies, primary care and public health promoted community capacity but were challenged by neoliberalism.

Karen women and families are a diverse group with a unique historical context. Not all the findings are applicable across refugee women.

This paper highlights the social determinants of mental health for Karen women and community responses for mitigating psychological distress during resettlement.

Public health policy requires a contextualized understanding of refugee women’s mental health. Health promotion in resettlement must include culturally safe provision of health care to mitigate sources of psychological distress during resettlement.

This research brings a postcolonial and feminist analysis to community capacity as a public health strategy.

Up to 25 per cent of women will experience depression during their pregnancy. Perinatal mental health problems are a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality, however care provided to women is often a low priority. The purpose of this paper is to explore women’s perspective of care from GPs and midwives, when they experience symptoms of depression during pregnancy.

Women, with self-reported symptoms of depression, were invited to post comments in response to a series of on-line questions posted on two discussion forums over a nine month period. The questions were related to the care women received from GPs and midwives. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

In total, 22 women responded to the on-line questions. A number of themes were identified from the data including women’s disclosure of symptoms to GPs and midwives; lack of knowledge of perinatal mental health among health providers; attitudes of staff and systemic issues as barriers to good care; anti-depressant therapy and care that women found helpful.

Women often face significant emotional and psychological health issues in the transition to motherhood. This small study indicates women often experience difficulties in interacting with their GP and midwife in seeking help. This research has identified some contributing factors, however more rigorous research is needed to explore these complex issues.

This paper highlights service provision in the care of women with depression in pregnancy.

This paper is based on a survey of service provision for women experiencing domestic violence and who have additional complex mental health or substance use needs. Postal questionnaires were sent to domestic violence organisations, community mental health teams, mental health NHS trusts and substance use services. The views of women survivors of domestic violence were also sought. The survey, undertaken by Women's Aid, identifies some shortcomings in existing provision and makes recommendations for future development of services. More refuge provision is needed which can accommodate women with mental health and substance use needs, and their children.Mental health professionals and those working in drug and alcohol services also need training in domestic violence, to enable them to respond more appropriately to the needs of abused women and to work effectively in partnership with refuge organisations.

Large numbers of women in prison report significant emotional and mental health problems, and there is evidence to suggest that the prison environment may exacerbate the incidence and severity of these issues (Armour, 2012). However, there has been limited exploration of the extent to which women’s mental health problems exist prior to incarceration, whether symptoms first occur in incarceration, and how incarceration affects this. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In-depth interviews were conducted with 43 women incarcerated in three English prisons and a thematic analysis of the data was conducted. Review of official prison records provided a form of data triangulation.

Analysis of the data revealed that while many women who experienced mental health issues in prison had experienced these issues in the past, a number of women reported first experiencing mental health and emotional problems only after entering prison. Although these problems often recede, this demonstrates the significant impact that entering prison can have upon the mental health of women. Unusually, the data highlighted many positive experiences of support within prison. However, there was some lack of consistency in the treatment and support offered to women.

The data presented here are in many ways more positive than previous research and – as opposed to much of the existing literature that simply states the prevalence women’s issues in prison – provides insight into the lived experiences of women in prison. This paper documents how prison can present an opportunity for women to engage with treatment, but there is a need for a clearer understanding of women’s needs and consistent and appropriate support.

The rate of female committals to prison has grown rapidly in recent years. Women in prison are likely to have trauma histories and difficulties with their mental health. This paper aims to synthesise the findings of qualitative literature to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences of women in the context of prison-based mental health care.

A systematic search of five academic databases, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, Psychological Information Database (PsycINFO), Excerpta Medica DataBASE (EMBASE) and Medline, was completed in December 2020. This study’s search strategy identified 4,615 citations, and seven studies were included for review. Thomas and Harden’s (2008) framework for thematic synthesis was used to analyse data. Quality appraisal was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute Checklist for Qualitative Research (Lockwood et al., 2015).

Four analytic themes were identified that detail women’s experiences of prison-based mental health care: the type of services accessed and challenges encountered; a reduction in capacity to self-manage mental well-being; the erosion of privacy and dignity; and strained relationships with prison staff. There is a paucity of research conducted with women in the context of prison-based mental health care. The findings suggest there is a need for greater mental health support, including the need to enhance relationships between women and prison staff to promote positive mental health.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review conducted on the experiences of women in the context of prison-based mental health care.

This paper reports on a pilot project that helps women offenders and other women with multiple needs to access mental health care. The paper aims to increase understanding of the mental health needs of these women and the barriers they face in accessing and sustaining engagement with appropriate care.

Key principles and early findings are presented from the partnership project based in Anawim Women's Centre, in which a mental health nurse (MHN) is seconded to the centre one day a week. These are presented in light of research relating to the mental health needs of vulnerable women.

Early findings suggest mental health needs are largely trauma‐based and co‐occurring substance misuse problems are common. The MHN negotiated a pathway into secondary care with community mental health team managers but concerns continue about the ability of primary care services to meet the complex needs of these women. Principles for working with this group include: provision in a women‐only space; a focus on engagement; flexibility; holistic support and empowering women and voluntary sector staff.

Findings are based on eight months of one pilot project in which 22 women were seen.

Practical implications are outlined for commissioners and service managers of mental health care services for vulnerable women.

Research and experience suggest that women with multiple problems can struggle to engage with traditionally structured services and fail to access the holistic support they need. This paper increases understanding of this problem and suggests how these women might be better supported.

Perinatal depression is common and increases the risk of adverse outcomes for both the mother and child. Despite regular contact with midwives and GPs during the perinatal period less than 50 per cent of women with depression are identified and treated. A number of reasons for this have been proposed; however, failure of health professionals to recognise the symptoms women present with may contribute. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to explore women’s self-report symptoms of perinatal depression and understand how the symptoms women present with might impact on identification.

Women were invited to post their experiences of perinatal depression on one of two online discussion forums over a nine-month period. Data were analysed using a process of deductive thematic analysis informed by cognitive behavioural therapy.

Women’s symptoms were presented using five headings: triggers (for perinatal depression), thoughts, moods, physical reactions and behaviours. Women believed having a previous mental health problem contributed to their depression. Women’s self-report symptoms included intrusive and violent thoughts; emotional responses including fear, worry and anger; and somatic symptoms including insomnia and weight changes. Women also reported aggressive behaviour and social withdrawal as part of their depressive symptomatology. Symptoms women present with may negatively impact on identification as they often overlap with those of pregnancy; may not be included in the criteria for mental health assessment and may involve undesirable and socially unacceptable behaviour, making disclosure difficult.

A more inclusive understanding of women’s self-report symptoms of perinatal depression is called for, if identification is to improve.

This paper offers an analysis of women’s self-report symptoms of depression, in the context of identification of perinatal mental health problems.