Professor Jayashri Kulkarni's Public Lecture: Women's Mental Health - It's getting tougher

Professor Jayashri Kulkarni, internationally renowned expert and high profile advocate of women’s mental health, presented a compelling lecture on the major issues which impact women and their mental wellbeing, and strategies for improving women’s mental health.

This important event was held at The Alfred Hospital on 9th October 2015, and was Chaired by former Governor General Dame Quentin Bryce, who also spoke eloquently on various aspects of women’s mental health.

During the Lecture, Professor Kulkarni presented four Case Studies of women with different mental disorders, to paint a picture of how gender can play an important role in mental illness presentation and outcomes. Women are twice as likely to suffer from depression, anxiety disorders and suicide attempts when compared to men, with mental illness being gender specific in terms of symptom presentation. This makes it even more imperative that new services and approaches to care are established to meet the needs of women.

Furthermore, women’s mental health is generally not well understood, is often ignored by the community and is not recognised as a national health care priority. With this in mind, Professor Kulkarni was delighted to announce the formation of the Australian Consortium for Women’s Mental Health.

Click here to watch the lecture and here to watch the Q&A session.