ABSTRACT
This chapter explores negative family messages women receive regarding illness and how illness may be caused by some family dynamics, such as the historical practice of foot binding. More women than men seek mental health services. Women experience more depression and marital dissatisfaction than do men. Women do more than men at home and they expend more energy on family concerns. The documentary movie Small Happiness: Women of a Chinese Village provides us with some rare interviews showing dynamics between men and women. American culture puts pressure on women to be thin. Harriet Goldhor Lerner claims in Women in Therapy that women have a special difficulty expressing anger effectively and directly. In conclusion, women often bear the symptoms of the emotional system in the family. Women need to voice their feelings and thoughts so their bodies do not carry the negative effects of repression, often causing sickness or lack of well-being.
