An ancient Egyptian papyrus from 1900 B.C. Hysteria is one of the first recorded neuroses, and it was associated with women right from the start. In each of these episodes, no organic or toxic cause for the strange behavior could be found (both the 20 incidents prompted extensive medical and environmental tests). In 1560 in a convent in Xante, Spain, a group of nuns fell to the ground, tore off their veils and began to bleat like sheep. In 1962, laughing fits took over half the population of an all-girls school in a village in East Africa. In 2011, nearly 2,000 female factory workers fainted on the job in factories throughout Cambodia. In 2012, in Le Roy, New York, four cheerleaders developed Tourette’s-like symptoms, which eventually spread to 13 others. The focus of these intervention strategies is to reduce effects of factors in the cultural environment that contribute to the oppression of women and, in turn, contribute to their becoming depressed.Stage actress Sarah Bernhardt in a scene from an unnamed theatre production. Intervention strategies for each of these levels of prevention, following feminist guidelines and using techniques that have been found to be helpful for women, are described and discussed.
Mental health promotion using Caplan's (1974) three levels of prevention in health care is discussed. The guidelines for feminist therapy developed by the Task Force of the Feminist Therapy Collective, Inc., of Philadelphia and by feminist therapists in private practice in Philadelphia are discussed as an alternative to the traditional approach to therapy. A feminist view of depression is given in which depression is equated with oppression. The problems that these historical perspectives have caused for women are discussed. Showalter described how the prevailing attitudes toward the mentally ill, and toward women in particular, were influenced by the social changes of each historical phase and how these attitudes affected the thinking and treatment used by the psychiatrists. In The Female Malady, Showalter (1985) described three themes that were prevalent through three historical phases of English psychiatry: psychiatric Victorianism (1830-1870), psychiatric Darwinism (1870-1920), and psychiatric Modernism (1920-1980).
Using Caplan's (1974) level of prevention in health care and a feminist framework, suggestions are made for prevention or alleviation of depression in women in the contemporary culture. This article discusses Showalter's (1985) description of the historical perspectives of how women have been viewed in the culture and how these perspectives have influenced women's past treatment for mental illness.
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