Self-silencing and women's health: A review

Abstract

The connection between gender and health has intrigued health professionals in the last few decades. Silencing-the-self theory has brought a considerable clarity in this matter. After around three decades of the theory, the literature related to the theory has immensely flourished and has covered different branches of psychology. The aim of the present work is to provide a comprehensive picture of the qualitative and quantitative research findings that have connected self-silencing to health and well-being of women. This article presents a critical review of relevant articles. These articles have used the self-silencing theory as an explanation of women's higher vulnerability to certain diseases as well as their experience with them. Self-silencing has been found to explain the gender gap in psychiatric disorders like depression, eating disorders and so on. It also influences the resilience and therapeutic effects among female patients with chronic conditions such as cancer, AIDS and so on. Moreover, self-silencing has also been found to be associated with women's health issues such as pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder. The present study discusses the existing literature in a narrative manner along with suggesting some relevant research gaps that can be worth exploring in the future.

Keywords: Depression; eating disorder; premenstrual dysphoric disorder; psychological wellbeing; self-silencing; women’s health.