Tattoos and Psychiatric Disorders
There are many reasons as to why women and people in general get the tattoos that they do. However, these reasons can be misinterpretated and because of this some people look down at tattooed people. There are many stigmas and stereotypes that are attached to women with tattoos, and one of them is that women with tattoos must have some sort of psychiatric disorder. In clinical samples, tattoos in women have been described as being associated with psychopathology, child sexual abuse, personality problems or alcohol abuse (Archives Of Women's Mental Health). So because of these claims, a random community study of New Zealand women was done to investigate the links between tattooed women and indicators of different types of psychosocial problems.
There are not only stigmas attached to people with tattoos by the general society, but even by medical scientist and sociologists. In some medical literature, tattooing is often discussed with reference to psychiatric and personality problems. There was a study done by Gittleson and colleagues some years ago that reported a survey of psychiatric inpatients and linked tattooing clearly to personality disorder, even though the types of personality disorder were not described. In recent research, Inch and Huws reported on four female psychiatric patients with tattoos, emphasising that they all had experienced childhood sexual abuse. There was also a study done that the case reports indicated borderline personality disorder instead and also noted that at least two were alcohol dependent (Archives Of Women's Mental Health).
Even though these cases may indicate some women with tattoos have psychiatric disorders, went through child sexual abuse and may even have a substance abuse problem, doesn't mean all women with tattoos do. Some cases were even thrown out because out of the women with psychiatric disorders only five percent of them actually had tattoos. So because of the small numbers there really wasn't any community based studies published looking at the phenomena of tattoos (Archives Of Women's Mental Health). This is why this New Zealand study was done because they were interested in the psychological reasons behind women getting tattoos. They also wanted to explore the associations with abuse experiences, borderline personality features, alcohol use and psychiatric disorder. However, case studies like these make me wonder if there really are any good intentions or is this only done to prove that negative associations with tattoos are actually true? When research is done on such a touchy subject it can lead to either positve outcomes or negative ones.
By the end of this study, it was found that women with tattoos were more likely to be younger, to drink more alcohol, to have more psychiatric symptoms and to show borderline personality features than were the non tattooed women. They were also more likely to report child sexual abuse and the conclusion is that tattoos in women are statistically linked to child sexual abuse, and to later psychopathology in some women (Archives Of Women's Mental Health). However, I find this data conflicting because just because a women has a tattoo doesn't mean that they have some psychiatric disorder or were sexually abused as a child. When people hear or read research like this the stereotypes associated with women with tattoos seems to become justified. Yet, like I mentioned just because a women has a tattoo doesn't mean they have a psychiatric disorder, substance abuse problem, or went through child sexual abuse. And just because a women doesn't have a tattoo doesn't mean that they don't have a psychiatric disorder, substance abuse problem, or that they didn't go through child sexual abuse. In my opinion, tattoos are becoming popular and this is why it is so easy to find many women with these disorders that also have tattoos. However, it is just as easy to find women without psychiatric disorders that have tattoos.
Even though these cases may indicate some women with tattoos have psychiatric disorders, went through child sexual abuse and may even have a substance abuse problem, doesn't mean all women with tattoos do. Some cases were even thrown out because out of the women with psychiatric disorders only five percent of them actually had tattoos. So because of the small numbers there really wasn't any community based studies published looking at the phenomena of tattoos (Archives Of Women's Mental Health). This is why this New Zealand study was done because they were interested in the psychological reasons behind women getting tattoos. They also wanted to explore the associations with abuse experiences, borderline personality features, alcohol use and psychiatric disorder. However, case studies like these make me wonder if there really are any good intentions or is this only done to prove that negative associations with tattoos are actually true? When research is done on such a touchy subject it can lead to either positve outcomes or negative ones.
By the end of this study, it was found that women with tattoos were more likely to be younger, to drink more alcohol, to have more psychiatric symptoms and to show borderline personality features than were the non tattooed women. They were also more likely to report child sexual abuse and the conclusion is that tattoos in women are statistically linked to child sexual abuse, and to later psychopathology in some women (Archives Of Women's Mental Health). However, I find this data conflicting because just because a women has a tattoo doesn't mean that they have some psychiatric disorder or were sexually abused as a child. When people hear or read research like this the stereotypes associated with women with tattoos seems to become justified. Yet, like I mentioned just because a women has a tattoo doesn't mean they have a psychiatric disorder, substance abuse problem, or went through child sexual abuse. And just because a women doesn't have a tattoo doesn't mean that they don't have a psychiatric disorder, substance abuse problem, or that they didn't go through child sexual abuse. In my opinion, tattoos are becoming popular and this is why it is so easy to find many women with these disorders that also have tattoos. However, it is just as easy to find women without psychiatric disorders that have tattoos.
"A tattoo should serve as a clinical reminder to think about the possibility of a psychiatric problem being present." (Archives Of Women's Mental Health).