Although many enormous strides toward gender equality have been made over the last century, there are still significant differences in how society treats and provides for men and women. And while much has been written about the increase in male loneliness, especially since the COVID pandemic[1], the research still overwhelmingly shows that women experience lower well-being overall when compared to men. The reasons for this are varied. For instance, women earn less overall and are less likely to be employed. Women also have lower levels of personal wealth than men and are underrepresented in political and business leadership. Finally, women in cultures worldwide face much pressure from society to dedicate considerable time and energy into sustaining family cohesion, and women globally are far more likely to be subject to violence, often sexual, at the hands of men.[2]
These last two points are important, because they highlight how family situations hold unique complexities for women. Whether as a mother, a daughter, a sister, or a romantic partner, women are more likely to bear the burden of complex family situations. So how can we specifically support women’s mental health in these complex family environments?
Women’s Roles in Family Life
Women’s roles in family life are often characterized by high levels of caregiving responsibility, emotional labor, and coordination of household tasks, which can create substantial psychological burden. Even in dual‑earner households, women typically perform a disproportionate share of domestic work and child care in comparison to a male partner, leading to role overload and chronic time pressure. This is associated with higher rates of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress-related complaints, especially when combined with low partner support or economic strain.[3]
Women are also frequently expected to manage the emotional climate of the family, not just as partners but also as sisters, daughters, and mothers. This can mean soothing conflict, monitoring family wellbeing, and maintaining kin relationships. What’s more, this expectation can intensify guilt and self‑blame when family members struggle, and the mental health impact is thus amplified in complex family contexts. Single mothers, for example, experience considerably more pressure and are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and burnout. Another example of increased family complexity occurs when women are caring for ill or disabled relatives, a responsibility which more often than not falls on women and not men.[4]
And, of course, the mental and physical health risks are significantly increased for women who are experiencing intimate partner conflict or violence at the hands of other family members, such as siblings, parents, or even children. These types of unsafe family environments are strongly associated with depression, anxiety, PTSD, substance use, and impaired parenting, particularly when children witness violence.[5] Risk is further heightened when women face intersecting vulnerabilities such as poverty, immigration-related dependence, or discrimination, which can restrict options for leaving abusive relationships. Women are also frequently forced into choosing to remain with or returning to families where they are being subjected to violence for various reasons, including lack of personal resources, social pressure from community or culture, or lack of overall well-being.
Supporting Women’s Mental Health in All Contexts
Robust social support and deliberate empowerment processes are key resources for supporting the mental health of women who are in complex, and especially unsafe, family environments. Empowerment means more than simply feeling powerful; it means being able to exercise control over your own future in meaningful and tangible ways. There are a number of specific aspects to consider when thinking about provision of social support and empowerment for women.
Trauma-Informed Care
Supporting women’s mental health in complex family environments requires, first and foremost, trauma-informed approaches that prioritize physical and emotional safety. Many women experience overlapping adversities, such as intimate partner violence, childhood maltreatment, coercive control, and financial abuse, that heighten risk for depression, PTSD, substance use, and suicidality.[6] Trauma‑informed care emphasizes understanding the impact of various forms of violence (physical and mental, overt and covert) on cognition, affect regulation, and relationships while avoiding practices that replicate powerlessness and collaborating on care plans that enhance autonomy.
Group and Community Support
Therapeutic interventions that build supportive peer networks, such as group-based therapies, mutual aid groups, or survivor-led communities, are relevant and useful for supporting women’s mental health within complex family contexts. These types of therapies can reduce loneliness, normalize struggles, and help develop collaborative coping skills. They can also provide a safe space outside the family, which is important especially for women who are being subject to violence at home.
Personal Support
From a more personal perspective, therapeutic frameworks that stress collaborative goal-setting, strengthening self-efficacy, and supporting women’s own definitions of safety and wellbeing rather than imposing prescriptive solutions are extremely important in supporting women’s mental health.[7] This can be achieved through one-on-one therapy with a trained professional, ideally one who takes an intersectional approach to understanding how women’s various roles in the family system add unique pressures that are likely to influence their mental health. Intersectional approaches also address stigma around mental illness and help-seeking within families, involving trusted kin, partners, or community leaders when safe.
Material Resources and Professional Assistance
Economic stress is also a major amplifier of mental health risk in complex family settings. For this reason, access to childcare, housing assistance, and income support are crucial for supporting mental health among women specifically. Family-focused interventions that include parenting support, co‑parenting counseling, or attachment-based work can mitigate intergenerational transmission of trauma and improve children’s adjustment. Provision of these types of resources is consistently linked to better psychological outcomes.[8]
There is no single approach to ensuring that women are able to enjoy good mental health in complex family systems. However, through the provision of integrated support programs, which work to combine mental health services alongside advocacy, financial and legal counseling, employment advice and services, we can ensure that we are meeting the specific needs of women in complex family environments of all types. Above all else, supporting women’s agency in decisions about relationships, parenting, and resources, while affirming their expertise on their own lives, is a core aspect of sustaining mental health in the face of family complexity.
Sources:
[1] Orchard, T. (2025)’ Is Male Loneliness a New Epidemic or an Age-Old Struggle?’ Psychology Today. 22 July 2025. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-kaleidescope/202507/is-male-loneliness-a-new-epidemic-or-an-age-old-struggle
[2] Caspar Kaiser et al. Two paradoxes in women’s well-being. Sci. Adv.11, eadt1646 (2025). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adt1646
[3] Belle, D., & Doucet, J. (2003). Poverty, inequality, and discrimination as sources of depression among U.S. women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 27(2), 101–113.
[4] Wong, Y. J., & Shobo, Y. (2017). The gendered burdens of family caregiving. Journal of Health Psychology, 22(10), 1265–1276.
[5] Campbell, J. C. (2002). Health consequences of intimate partner violence. The Lancet, 359(9314), 1331–1336.
[6] Elliott, D. E., Bjelajac, P., Fallot, R. D., Markoff, L. S., & Reed, B. G. (2005). Trauma‐informed or trauma‐denied: Principles and implementation of trauma‐informed services for women. Journal of Community Psychology, 33(4), 461–477.
[7] Cattaneo, L. B., & Goodman, L. A. (2015). What is empowerment anyway? A model for domestic violence practice, research, and evaluation. Psychology of Violence, 5(1), 84–94.
[8] Siefert, K., Heflin, C. M., Corcoran, M. E., & Williams, D. R. (2004). Food insufficiency and the physical and mental health of low-income women. Women & Health, 32(1–2), 159–177.
