Gender differences in initiation of psychotherapeutic medicine use

It has been shown that women are more likely than men to have used prescription psychotherapeutic medicines. Gender differences in the determinants of such use have also been identified. In an earlier study of adult household residents aged 18-44, we found that antecedent illicit drug use was associated with prescribed psychotherapeutic medicine use, independent of psychiatric symptoms. In this study, we explore these predictive relationships separately for males and females. For both males (n = 604) and females (n = 933) illicit drug use was associated with psychotherapeutic medicine use, although the relationship was stronger among males. Psychiatric symptoms did not account for this relationship for either gender. Among males, symptoms and illicit drug use each increased the likelihood of psychotherapeutic medicine use. Among females, no additional likelihood of psychotherapeutic medicine use over and above that for illicit drug use resulted when psychiatric symptoms were also present. Help-seeking was strongly associated with prescription psychotherapeutic medicine use among both genders.