"We know that anyone can suffer from PTSD, but there is a clear gender difference in how common PTSD is in men versus women," said Faisal Tai, M.D., a board-certified psychiatrist and CEO of PsychPlus in the Houston area.
The lifetime prevalence of trauma exposure is lower in women than men, but women are more likely to experience PTSD. According to the National Center for PTSD, about 1 in 10 women suffer from PTSD in their lifetime. About half that number of men will experience PTSD, Tai noted.
Men and women encounter different forms of trauma, both within their personal lives and professional environments. For example, women often face a higher prevalence of high-impact trauma, such as sexual trauma, which may occur at a younger age compared to men. The timing of trauma in early life can have a more profound and lasting impact on an individual's well-being.
"There are actually some quite marked differences between men and women as far as PTSD is concerned, mainly in the length of time before treatment," said Terence Watts, a United Kingdom-based psychotherapist, author and founder of The BWRT Institute.
Males usually receive treatment after about 12 months, he continued, while for women it's closer to four years. There might be a number of reasons for this, including the fact that responses are more evident in males than females.
Women's symptoms are more inclined to be dismissed as anxiety or depression, or even menopause, even by themselves.
Other possibilities Watts discussed are that women are:
- Less likely to show evident symptoms such as apparently unprovoked violence
- More likely to talk to friends and family about their issues and receive more support, meaning they can survive longer without professional help
Researchers suggest men and women may differ in their response to traumatic events due to biological, social or environmental factors, according to Ketan Parmar, M.D., a Mumbai-based psychiatrist and mental health expert at ClinicSpots.
"Biologically, males are more likely to produce higher levels of testosterone following a traumatic event, which can cause greater impulsivity and aggression," he said.
This may lead them to externalize their emotions rather than work to manage them.
Societally, men are expected to hide and suppress their emotions and behave in a more stoic manner following a traumatic event.
"This can lead to men not feeling safe enough to talk about their trauma instead of seeking help or support from others," Parmar said.
These gender differences in emotion regulation have been strongly linked with the risk of developing PTSD. This is almost certainly a facet of evolutionary difference, Watts explained.
"Thousands of years of being the hunter and warrior has resulted in their psychology being problem-focused and distant from emotion," he said.
A lot of the symptoms of PTSD are born out of the increasing inability to cope effectively with even minor problems and the accompanying emotional arousal. Females, on the other hand, were more likely to be nurturers, caring for the young, the sick or injured, and the elderly, and were more emotionally focused and aware. So males with PTSD tend to "go it alone" while females seek the support of their "sisters."
The symptoms of PTSD also tend to differ in men and women.