Abstract

ORDORIKA SACRISTAN, Teresa. Sociological Contributions to the Study of Women's Mental Health. Rev. Mex. Sociol [online]. 2009, vol.71, n.4, pp.647-674. ISSN 2594-0651.

This article analyzes the contributions of feminist theory to the problem of women's mental health. On the basis of the sociological perspectives of production and social construction, and the study of the subjective experiences of suffering, the author provides a brief description of four lines of sociological research with a gender approach for dealing with the study of female mental problems. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 450 million persons all over the world suffer from mental disorders. These constitute a social problem of the first order, requiring attention from the social sciences.

Keywords : mental health; mental disorders; sociology, gender; women.