Women and Schizophrenia

Women are affected differently by the side effects of medication as well. Weight gain is very disabling in its own right, physically and socially. Women tend to be more sensitive to weight gain. The older conventional medications would block estrogen release and the decreased estrogen levels would necessitate a larger daily dose of medication then was actually needed. All the old medications caused considerable prolactin elevation, enough to suspend normal menstrual cycles in a significant percentage of women.

Quantifying how disruptive an illness has been is not an easy task. Women with schizophrenia are seen as more vulnerable in our society. They are thought to be less able to defend themselves against sexual predation, more likely to be victimized and abused, to live in abject poverty. It would appear they are much less likely to become homeless though. When they are young they may not be that ill, and it is more likely they will be supported by their parents or a male partner. As they age these options become less likely. In Toronto, the population eating at the soup kitchens and missions is 99% male. I know because I ate at several for over a year. Bag ladies were few and far between and all quite old.

Generally the delayed onset and milder form of schizophrenia in the first ten years allows women to mature more, to develop more social and employment skills, to marry and have children. Males developing schizophrenia are not so lucky, although twenty years later the severity of their illness is decreasing while it is increasing for women as their estrogen levels drop. Women with schizophrenia become as disabled as men in their later years, perhaps more so.

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