The increased rate of autoimmune diseases in women may be related to suicide and stress. This is what the research shows.
The relationship between gender and women’s health in particular has fascinated medical professionals for the past several decades. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in autoimmune diseases among the younger generation, especially women. Until now, the causes of autoimmune disease were not widely known, but a new study, which is worrying, shows that there is an increase in the burden of women, especially the multiple roles that women play in their daily lives, which contribute to the rise in health conditions.
According to the Australian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, autoimmune diseases disproportionately affect women, accounting for 75 percent of all cases. This begs the question: why are women so affected and what is contributing to this hidden crisis? Is there a connection between our increasingly busy lifestyles and trying to have it all, or is there something bigger that we’re not accounting for?
Epidemic problems
Renowned physician, speaker and author Dr. Gabor Mate has devoted his work extensively to understanding the root causes of stress among women. We are “now seeing an epidemic of anxiety around the world,” he says. So what is contributing to this increase in anxiety and autoimmune diseases among women? Interestingly, it is not necessarily increased working hours or even household burdens, but these women do not have the freedom and ability to express their feelings. Instead, these feelings are internalized and repressed.
So let’s explore the factors that led to this crisis, but first, we must begin by understanding the historical roles of women.
Generational roles
In the 1950s, gender roles greatly affected the roles men and women assumed within the household.
From a culture of self-sacrifice and suicide to rising rates of women’s health and autoimmune problems, we’re learning what’s causing this silent, anti-medication crisis, says Elaine Tyler May, professor of American studies and history and author.
While women were expected to be homemakers who took care of the children. There were very few shared roles. This meant for women that they learned very early that in order to maintain peace within the family, their role was as nurturers, caregivers, emotional mediators and teachers who always fostered a sense of harmony within the family.
Thus, women were taught that in order to keep the peace, they had to suppress any desire to support others. They also realized that their preferences and desires were secondary to their husbands, who were considered the head of the household.
Suicide
Interestingly, psychologist Dana Jack (1991) discovered a recurring theme among female patients suffering from depression. There was a tendency for these women to commit suicide, i.e. engage in traditional roles such as forced caregiving, pleasing others, and inhibiting self-expression based on certain norms and values that dictate how women should be. They commit suicide in order to maintain relationships and ensure their psychological and physical safety. However, they also described how silencing their voices caused them to lose themselves and feel lost in their lives. They also expressed shame, frustration, and anger at feeling trapped and betrayed.
Research has now established that there is a strong correlation between rising women’s health and an increase in mental and physical illness within women, especially when abstinence is suppressed. This raises the question of how often we try to meet the needs of others and neglect our own.
Changing gender
Although significant changes have taken place over the past few decades, we still have to think about how much these roles that have been so deeply reflected in us still play in our daily lives. Has this created unequal gender roles and family practices where women now fulfill their career goals and are expected to be the primary caregiver while also taking on most of the domestic duties?
2019 article by Andrew Trowson of The
The University of Melbourne looked at the gender reassignment required by Australian households as more women return to work. It suggested that most couples report high levels of marital conflict because they are dealing with competing priorities.
Women report higher levels of stress due to longer working hours than men, while overseeing most of the housework and child care.
The energy spent managing this is said to increase mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.
The invisible cost: stress and autoimmune disease
Dr. Mate says people pleasers are the ones most likely to get sick. Within his book The body says nohe says that “when we stop learning to say no, our body can say it for us.” He also focuses on hidden stress, stress that we cannot see with the naked eye, which is often misunderstood. This “hidden stress that we all carry from our early programming is a pattern so deep and so subtle that it feels like a part of who we really are,” he writes. This early programming of self-sacrifice and self-sacrifice forces us to go further than we are.
The unknown cost of autoimmune disease
“Women in our culture are conditioned to please people and put the needs of others before our own, at the expense of our own,” says Dr. Sara Sazal, PhD, Harvard and MIT and author of The Autoimmune Cure. It seems that many of the symptoms women experience are the result of invisible pressures where women have been silenced, taught that their voices don’t matter, or that they have sacrificed their needs and desires at the expense of being “together”. Some of these beliefs are so deeply ingrained that we have become a culture of women who apologize for inconveniencing others, for overdoing it, even if it hurts our health.
This silencing and sacrifice of one’s inner needs and lack of boundaries creates so much stress in our lives that it can lead to increased inflammation in the body. Inflammation is the body’s natural defense mechanism against injury, infection, and disease. Stress can also affect the body’s inflammatory response, which triggers the body’s stress response. A little stress isn’t harmful, but the constant suppression of one’s true self can increase the risk of chronic diseases and conditions like autoimmune disease. Dr. Szal points out that the immune system is confused and attacks our healthy tissues and cells.
From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that repressed emotions can be the root cause of illness, creating stress within the body and disrupting our vital force, called qi. When we shut ourselves down, the inability to speak our truth can affect the energy center within the body, which can create imbalances and blockages within the body.
the energy body and then our nerves and major organs. This, in turn, can affect our physical, mental and emotional well-being.
Conscious awareness
A big component of treatment is understanding the root causes of the rise in autoimmune diseases and conditions in women. The famous proverb “knowledge is power” means realizing that we all have the power to overcome the old social constructs and narratives that have told us that we cannot speak our truth for fear of judgment or reaction. This knowledge now gives us the foundation and power to begin changing the narrative to express who we truly are, and we need to come back to ourselves and find a sense of fulfillment.
Unspoken feelings
The focus of Dr. Mate’s work is to help people uncover the unspoken emotions and feelings that underlie their outward presentation. A study by Bill Gainer of the University of Toronto in Canada explores the power of mindfulness therapies such as meditation and journaling to explore a person’s deeper experiences in order to resolve unfinished business and internal conflicts. She found that emotion-focused thinking therapy was helpful for accessing, expressing and regulating emotions and processing negative events. Journaling is an invitation to express and validate your unspoken feelings and experiences.
Take the opportunity to ask yourself: Were there certain roles you played growing up?
Are there certain situations where you tend to turn off more? How does it make you feel when you abstain? Where is it located in your energy body? Journaling is a safe way to express your feelings and can reduce stress, anxiety and depression. It also helps reduce activity in the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain.
Connectivity and community
The study also highlighted the importance of connection and community to support women in overcoming suicide and helping them use their voice in an environment where they feel supported, safe and validated. It also allows women to feel empowered to express themselves, their feelings, wants, desires, needs and opinions and to prioritize their needs in a safe environment without judgment or punishment.
Finding meaning after autoimmune disease
Creating balance in our lives means beginning to acknowledge and recognize our inner needs and being able to express them in a meaningful way. It also means creating physical environments where you can feel weak or neglected instead of physically, mentally or emotionally. This means exploring boundaries to ensure that your needs are met. Dr. Szal also encourages women to empower themselves by using their body’s innate wisdom to heal through small lifestyle changes that aren’t overwhelming to the body, but make a powerful difference over time.
