MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

Gender differences in the diagnosis and treatment of anxiety disorders

In the same vein as depression, anxiety disorders display a remarkable diagnostic bias towards women. With an almost two to one ratio of women to men diagnosed with any type of anxiety disorder, the natural step is to question the nature of this preponderance of female cases. Two schools of thought address this difference. Biological differences ranging from hormonal regulation to neurological trajectories may be pivotal in understanding the bias. Alternatively, socialization factors regarding gender roles could play the larger role in predisposing women to anxiety disorders. I propose that the viewing of these frameworks as mutually exclusive limits research into the gender bias. Instead, the interaction of biology and socialization processes specific to gender needs to be further researched, especially with respect to the prevalence of certain symptom patterns. Regardless of the school of thought, treatment fails to account for the gendered difference in the presentation of anxiety. Psychotropic drugs are more likely to be prescribed to women suffering from anxiety disorders even their efficacy has been disputed. Knowing this, I propose that the literature indicating both higher prevalence of anxiety in women along with differential treatment patterns calls for more research aimed towards developing a gender specific approach in the diagnosis and intervention of anxiety disorders.

WC: 208

Side note: I wrote this in first person even though this is for a technical audience, the use of first person is prevalent not just in the clinical psychology field but especially in the papers of people I would be interested in working with.

Reader’s profile:
Considering this is a potential graduate school writing sample, I think my toughest reader will be the faculty member that I would want to be my mentor. Broadly speaking, they would be someone in the field of anxiety or psychophysiological research. But because accepting a graduate student is a huge investment, they need to be extremely convinced the student will be worth both their time and money. Knowing that, my most difficult reader will not only be skeptical but pressed for time due to their own ongoing research.


Reader’s response:
I see her point in trying to reach a middle ground between biological and social aspects of the anxiety bias. But what’s the significance of saying it’s a combination of biological and social? Of course disorders like anxiety can have both social and biological roots but what of it? Where’s her firm stance on the more weighted side and how will this be able to guide her research? I have no interest in accepting a student who plans on discovering her interests while she’s here… This student is also presumptuous in presenting gendered assessments and treatment plans- the research is not there yet to support such a claim!

N-- very thoughtful analysis of the age-old poles of nature v. nurture. I think you can address this reader by noting that, while experiment design will be quite limited in analytical scope for very good methodological reasons, creating meaning from all research in this field does require a "trans" theoretical approach.


Good plan for a fascinating document. Glad you noted the voice conventions of your field area.