Chief Psychiatrist and Director at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, has says susceptibility to mental illness in general does not just depend on gender, but some particular disorders may be gender specific. This follows a research by a Psychologist, Prof Daniel Freeman, at Oxford University in the United Kingdom that up to 40% of women are more likely to develop mental health disorders. According to Prof Daniel Freeman, the research, based on analysis of epidemiological studies from the United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, has significant consequences for public health. Prof Freeman said as millions of people in the UK alone were affected by mental illness, the consequences of gender disparities were widespread. Mental health campaigners say general practitioners needed to be aware of such disparities when deciding how to commission resources for treatment and support. But Dr Osei says, for instance, more women are likely to suffer depression and more men prone to disorders like bi-polar disorder and hence a generalisation on the basis of gender could be misleading. Dr Osei added that “if we talk about substance abuse, for instance, obviously it is more in men than in women so it depends on the condition”.