From Menarche to Menopause The Female Body in Feminist Therapy

From Menarche to Menopause: The Female Body in Feminist Therapy examines the latest research on the menstrual cycle and women’s reproductive health. This timely volume focuses on women in therapy who are disconnected from—or even repelled by—their own bodies due to cultural attitudes, abuse, trauma, or the natural aging process. Experts in the fields of psychology and women’s health unite to celebrate the physical life stages of women and girls and to offer practical advice for therapists to use when addressing negativity caused by appearance, age, menstrual symptoms, or reproductive concerns.

In this book, you will gain new understanding about the effects on a woman’s mental health that transitional life stages can cause, from preadolescence through the childbearing years to menopause. The suggestions in From Menarche to Menopause can help women resist the bombardment of negative messages and misleading information they receive about their bodies and their reproductive concerns. This helpful resource can also assist you in opening new lines of communication between mothers and daughter, women and men, and women and other women.

From Menarche to Menopause discusses how to handle topics such as:

• self-loathing caused by media and cultural messages that affect women’s acceptance of their bodies
• overcoming a daughter’s reluctance to discuss sensitive topics of bodily maturation, menstruation, and emerging sexual development
• helping women, men, and couples cope with infertility
• assisting women in overcoming a disappointing birth experience
• providing therapeutic care to women and couples who experience perinatal loss
• addressing perimenopause in midlife women and the concerns, negative attitudes, and uncertainty of this transition

This unique book fills the gap in feminist therapy literature with practical advice concerning the functions of women’s bodies that can be used within the therapy context. From Menarche to Menopause includes extensive references and several book reviews to further your research and provide reading and other resources you can recommend to your clients. This practical resource on women’s reproductive health—as it relates to mental health—is an important addition to the bookshelves of feminist psychologists, clinical practitioners, social workers, and health practitioners as well as faculty and students of these disciplines.