There are many sources of distress for women that are specifically addressed in this book. A major concern is with loss and the many ways in which a woman can experience this, whether through infertility, miscarriage, having a damaged baby, death of a child, death of a partner, divorce, disfigurement, hysterectomy, and mastectomy. There are also chapters on disturbances of psychosexual development related to eating disorders, lesbianism, childlessness, and situations where woman are the victims, as well as the perpetrators, of abuse and perversion. There are also chapters concerned with particular aspects of mothering, such as maternal depression, step-parenting, and being a single mother.

The authors' intention is to produce a book concerned with the distress of women that will raise awareness of women's needs. They feel that the significance of trauma