SEK 10 million donated to study of young women’s mental health
Uppsala University’s interdisciplinary research programme Young women’s mental health has received a private donation of SEK 10 million. The money will be used in part to establish a longitudinal study of at least 5,000 women, who will be followed from the age of 15 throughout their lives. The goal is to be able to answer questions such as what factors contribute to, and protect against, mental ill-health.
“This research is a gift to future generations. It’s expensive to conduct research with such large cohorts that will run for a whole lifetime. The money we have received is an extremely important initial contribution for getting started in a larger format,” says Lisa Ekselius, professor of psychiatry and Director of Women’s Mental Health during the Reproductive Lifespan (WoMHeR).
The background to the Young women’s mental health research initiative is that mental ill-health is on the rise in Sweden and in other countries. Especially among younger women, more and more of whom are suffering from stress, agitation, anxiety and impaired mental well-being. In Sweden, the term ‘burnout syndrome’ is used for some of these problems. Ill-health in turn causes human suffering and impaired physical and mental function, shortens life expectancy, and has significant costs at the individual and societal level, which can lead to major problems in both the private sphere and the workplace.
Donation from the Wäppling family
The donation comes from the Wäppling family who have followed Lisa Ekselius’ work on the establishment of WoMHeR. The Young women’s mental health research initiative was also specifically presented to them.
“Research that helps to give young people experiencing mental distress tools to manage their lives, and that leads to them receiving better care, feels more and more urgent. The fact that the project is also interdisciplinary and the study is longitudinal feels both very right and very exciting. We also hope to inspire more private donors who are attracted by this initiative,” says Mats Wäppling, spokesperson for the family.
Young women’s mental health is a interdisciplinary research programme that includes a number of different studies. What they all share however is that they aim to increase understanding of what mental ill-health means for young women, how it develops over time and, above all, how to prevent serious consequences for individuals and society – all from different perspectives.
A large number of participants
The main study in the research programme is a cohort study, meaning a study that involves a large number of participants in order to identify patterns at the population level. In this case, at least 5,000 young women aged 15-16. Researchers want to be able to follow up their status annually, throughout their lives. They will be followed through different phases: education, entry into the labour market, through relationships and building a family and children. The researchers also want to go on to follow the next generation and their mental health.
The research is interdisciplinary, which means that there are researchers from many different disciplines involved. These include neurochemistry, behavioural medicine, psychology, media and communication studies, psychiatry, gynaecology and the history of science and ideas. Using a concerted interdisciplinary approach, the researchers want to be able to understand what protects against and what contributes to a person suffering from mental ill-health or illness.
“The interdisciplinary approach is important. By combining different skills such as historiography, and new technologies such as digital phenotyping, while simultaneously processing large data sets using machine learning and artificial intelligence, we will have unique opportunities to update and expand our understanding of this issue. Mental health problems do not only have biological causes. There is still a lot that needs to be clarified when it comes to the connections between neurobiological mechanisms, self-reported symptoms, observable behaviours, social interactions and cultural manifestations,” says Lisa Ekselius.
Elin Bäckström
Facts: Young women’s mental health
- Mental ill-health is on the rise in Sweden and other countries. Especially among younger women, more and more of whom are suffering from stress, agitation, anxiety and impaired mental well-being. The share of sick leave due to mental ill-health has also increased significantly.
- In the past three decades, the share of long-term sick leave due to psychiatric diagnoses has increased from 13 to 45 per cent among women and from 16 to 33 per cent among men.
- These health problems in turn cause human suffering and impair physical and mental function, shorten life expectancy and have significant costs at the individual and societal level, which can lead to major problems in the private sphere and the workplace.
- The established very severe psychiatric disorders, such as severe psychoses and bipolar disorder, are not increasing. On the other hand, a large group of mental states, or manifestations, have emerged that are in part reminiscent of serious mental illness, but at the same time are best described as verging on mental illness.