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Despite powerful myths to the contrary, no man has ever experienced pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, nor even the regular monthly rhythm of menstruation. Yet whenever anything goes wrong with any of these processes (and even when they are working well as in a healthy pregnancy), women are invariably confronted with male experts who have to make great empathic leaps in order to understand, diagnose and treat. This book is written principally in an attempt to enlighten male medical colleagues, whether they be GPs, gynaecologists/obstetricians, psychiatrists or others who are consulted by women when ill or in distress.
For the authors, women's biology clearly affects their destiny since the focus is on distress caused by women's reproductive processes throughout the life cycle. The book begins with an outline of how early childhood experiences affect the way in which we respond to life's vicissitudes as adults, giving in simple language an object-relations account of emotional distress. Pamela Ashurst and Zaida Hall then go on to consider the position of women in society, giving a brief historical analysis of women's oppression in patriarchy and the way this influences feminine identity and sexuality. Dinora Pines contributes a chapter on her psychodynamic understanding of the transition to motherhood, which is complemented by the authors with a chapter on women's common reactions to their babies.
The scene is then set to consider, in the following 15 chapters, selected issues which underlie the crises that are likely to affect women today. They begin with an analysis of the eating disorders commonly seen in adolescent girls, followed by a particularly sympathetic chapter on childhood sexual abuse. This includes a short outline of the presenting symptoms which should alert practitioners to the possibility of sexual, especially incestuous, abuse. Interestingly, there is no chapter developing the earlier comments made about female sexuality despite the lengthy post-Lacani