Sex-Specific Treatments

When you think of treating a patient who suffers from a mental disorder, such as schizophrenia, PTSD, depression, or even an addiction, you would think that a female patient would receive the same treatment as her male counterpart. However, recent studies show that an alternative has been proven more successful in treating the mental disorder. Researchers are saying sex-specific treatments must be developed in order to account for the disparities in brain anatomy between the male and female. Lise Eliot, author of Pink Brain Blue Brain, presents a perspective that is heavily based on the psychological aspects of gender differences and their effects on human behavior, which also supports the idea that treatment of mental disorders must become gender-specific in order to be more affective.

            The article His Brain, her Brain [Preview] by Larry Cahill discusses how at one point, neuroscientists believed that there was only one region of the brain that was influenced by sex differences: the hypothalamus, which controlled the release of hormones and mating behavior. In 1966, an article was even published in Scientific American, titled Sex Differences in the Brain, which described only one region of the brain responsible for regulating hormone production or controlling basic behaviors. “Sex differences” was simply tied to mating behaviors, sex hormones, and the hypothalamus. However, with the use of new imaging technologies, and controlled experiments, the role of sex on different areas of the brain and thus on the behaviors that are controlled by them has been increasing. Eliot expands on this finding as she argues that both men and women differ physically, mentally, and behaviorally. Throughout her book, she describes how differences between the male and female brain lead to superiority in language, motor, and sensory skills. Eliot takes an approach that focuses more on the hormonal aspect of sex differences.

These differences in the cognitive and emotional behaviors between the male and female contribute to different treatments for specific disorders. The sex-related hemispheric disparities correlate with differences in treatment of PTSD for men and women. For example, there are brain abnormalities underlying schizophrenia that appear to differ in men and women. The reality is men and women are different right down to the core of the human body, the brain. Developing sex-specific treatments will revolutionize the treatment of mental disorders, maybe even proving to be more affective than methods used now. 

References:

Cahill, L. (2012, May 01). His brain, her brain. Retrieved from

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/his-brain-her-brain-2012-10-23/?page=2

Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps--and

What We Can Do about It. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.