Stress, Oppression & Women’s Mental Health: A Discussion of the Health Consequences of Injustice

Oppression results in persistent and intersecting impacts on women’s health, including their spiritual, psychological and biophysical health. Although the concepts of oppression and stress have been discussed extensively in the literature, there is relatively little discussion of the complex interplay among the body’s biophysical stress handling systems and the everyday impacts of oppression. This article focuses on the root causes of women’s mental health struggles, with emphasis on the nature and impacts of intersecting oppressions and the social determinants of health. Violence against women is highlighted as a key foundation for women’s stress across the lifecourse. Oppression has a profound and long-lasting impact on the body’s stress handling system. These pathways are detailed with a focus on mental health and biophysical health consequences of oppression. The article concludes with a discussion of the new drivers of medicalization, and psychiatrization in particular, in the context of oppression and women’s mental health