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Psychosocial and cultural motivations for self-inflicted burns among Iranian women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Abdolaziz Rastegar Lari
Affiliation:
Department of Microbiology and Research Centre, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, PO Box 14515-717, email lari@iums.ac.ir
Reza Alaghehbandan
Affiliation:
Research and Development Division, Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information, St John's, Newfoundland, Canada
Mohammad Taghi Joghataei
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology and Anatomy, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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When the world of public health considers the health of women, one tendency is first and foremost to link the well-being of women to that of children and the family, and, legitimately, to the health of society overall. Epidemiological data point to sex differences in the patterns and clusters of psychiatric disorders and psychological distress. The origins of much of the pain and suffering particular to women can be traced to their social circumstances. Depression, hopelessness, exhaustion, anger and fear grow out of hunger, overwork, domestic and civil violence, entrapment and economic dependence. Understanding the sources of women's ill health demands awareness of how cultural and economic forces interact to undermine their social status. This article highlights aspects of social suffering among women in Iran. Self-inflicted burns, a significant indicator of mental health among Iranian women, are discussed in order to increase awareness of the phenomenon among the international community, as a first step towards initiating an improvement in the health of women in Iran.

Type
Thematic paper – Women's mental health and oppression
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2005

References

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