THE MENOPAUSE BOOK

The sample interviews that make up the last chapter of this multi-authored book document the need for more and better information on the menopause. Women now in their late forties or older grew up in a climate of sexual taboo. Their mothers told them little and what they learned came mostly after the fact. They had hot flashes and night sweats, were puzzled by scanty or excessive bleeding, worried by tension or depression. Some have had estrogen replacement therapy, some hysterectomies. For some it was smooth sailing. Since there is no universal pattern, it is important for women to learn what may happen in relation to their own psychological and medical history. The earlier chapters do this in a straight-talking way. Gynecologists Johanna Perlmutter, Elizabeth Connell, and Barrie Anderson detail the short- and long-range physical changes, the estrogen problem, and the reasons for hysterectomy. Oncologist Nancy Kemeny discusses breast cancer. Psychoanalyst Natalie Shainess discusses emotional stress and how to choose a therapist if needed. Sex therapist Hehn Kaplan raises a number of sexual options for menopausal women from celibacy to choosing a youthful lover, as well as discussing the techniques of sex therapy she employs in her program at New York's Payne-Whitney Clinic. A chapter on the male menopause focuses more on the psychological changes that affect both men and women at critical stages of life as delineated by Erikson and followers. The tendency to preachment in self-help books is in some evidence here, but the book is well-edited and tempered by a respect and concern for the reader. Here are mature women talking to mature women and they do it well.