Perceived Control Over The Menopause Experience And Experiences Expectations And Behaviors Regarding Menopause

An essential book to help women to live well through the menopause and to cope effectively with menopausal symptoms, using a cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approach. Living Well Through the Menopause is based on a wealth of research, including randomised controlled trials of the MENOS intervention with over 1000 women, that has demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach specifically for menopausal symptoms - hot flushes, night sweats and also their impact on daily life. CBT is proven as an effective alternative for women who do not want or are unable to use hormone therapy (HT). Written in an accessible and interactive style, with case examples and quotes, this guide will empower you and, specifically: · Help you to understand and cope with your physical and emotional reactions to the menopause · Clarify your key goals, thoughts and feelings using interactive questions and homework sheets · Enhance your self-care through behaviour change · Help partners and loved ones to support you through the menopause Living Well self-help guides use clinically proven techniques to treat long-standing and disabling conditions, both psychological and physical. Series Editors: Professor Kate Harvey and Emeritus Professor Peter Cooper

This project defines the intervention of yoga therapy for perimenopausal symptoms of hot flushes, anxiety, and depression according to the principles of Ayurveda. This is important in light of research showing the costs versus the benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and the growing population of hormone users as the lifespan increases. The research shows that there is a basis for effective alternatives to HRT for women who cannot or choose not to supplement estrogen levels using pharmaceutical hormones. Ayurveda offers a diagnostic approach that includes consideration of a woman's individual constitution as a predisposing cause of menopausal symptoms. Through questionnaire and pulse diagnosis, a woman may determine her body type and be provided guidelines unique for her constitution. The intervention consists of an educational workshop and follows up with a yoga practice. The practice facilitates the perception of control, while encouraging surrender to the transition of perimenopause.

The menopause is still a taboo topic and a source of uncertainty and embarrassment for many women. In Managing Hot Flushes and Night Sweats Myra Hunter and Melanie Smith aim to provide women with up to date and balanced information about menopause and a self-help guide to reduce the impact of hot flushes and night sweats in just four weeks. This book sets out an interactive four-week programme using cognitive behavioural therapy, with exercises and worksheets designed to enable women to develop strategies for managing menopausal symptoms. This approach is based on the authors’ research and has been shown to be effective in recent clinical research trials. This guide can help you to: Understand the biological as well as the psychological and cultural influences on menopause Understand and manage hot flushes in social situations Learn to modify triggers and use paced breathing to reduce the impact of hot flushes Reduce stress and improve well-being Develop strategies to help if night sweats disturb your sleep With a companion audio exercise and downloadable resources available online, Managing Hot Flushes and Night Sweats offers a complete and effective framework to approach menopause with confidence and to manage symptoms without the use of medication. The book is ideal for women approaching or going through the menopause, for women having menopausal symptoms following treatment for breast cancer, for their friends and relatives, and healthcare professionals working with women.

Menopause, Me and You will help you put menopause in proper perspective--as a normal and natural developmental process in the lives of women, not as a disorder or state that causes disease. This informative book gives you self-monitoring tools for collecting information and monitoring changes in your body during menopause. These tools will also help you understand the dynamics of the change process. A guideline as to how to best use this information when interacting with care providers--especially those who view menopause as a disorder to be treated--is also included. Menopause, Me and You is filled with information-gathering tools, scientific facts, and stories from the true “experts” on menopause--the women themselves who have experienced or are experiencing menopause. In chapter after chapter, you’ll gain valuable information for viewing menopause from a woman-centered perspective. Specifically, the book includes: detailed information on conception and fertilization, reconceptualizing these events from a woman-centered, feminist perspective a description and reconceptualization of the menstrual cycle and menstruation, providing the knowledge base--the physiological, endrocrinological, and biochemical mechanisms that regulate the menstrual cycle and menstruation--to understand menopause as the closure of menstrual life and not the end of life a journey into the steroid hormone target cell--shows, at a scientific level, that women were genetically programmed to end the production of reproductive hormones a description and clarification of some of the terms used to describe menopause common menopausal changes and diseases attributed to being estrogen-deficient tools for gathering information, for “discovering knowledge,” about yourself--a menstrual calendar card, hot flash body diagrams, a basal body temperature record, a body composition record, a menstrual bleeding scale, and factors to consider when choosing a care provider The women who share their experiences in Menopause, Me and You represent women at various stages of menopause. They describe for you what they are feeling as well as what it means to be a mid-life woman at the closure of reproductive life; they celebrate the end of menstruation but curse the changes--including mood swings, hot flashes, and vaginal/bleeding changes--they are experiencing. These changes are normal and expected, however, and need to be understood in that context. They are not symptoms of disease or an excuse for care providers to instantly prescribe hormones or drugs. With the information in Menopause, Me and You, women nearing or experiencing menopause, health care providers, such as nurses, health educators, and physicians, and counselors will better understand how women view this transition and come to accept it as another normal, necessary, and beautiful process in the lives of women.

Interviews with and case studies of women in the U.S., accompanied by research in this text, show how our perceptions, thoughts, and spiritual practices can help women through menopause without drugs and their potential side effects. More and more women today are seeking natural ways to cope with menopause, including through mindfulness techniques and Eastern practices such as meditation. Women of various races, ages, and socioeconomic status interviewed at length for this study explain their experiences, victories, and setbacks in their quests to overcome this natural but body- and brain-altering change. Complementing findings from her research with wider outside research, author Deborah Merrill explains how popular culture depictions, race, class, and education all alter women's perceptions of the meaning of menopause, and how those perceptions can complicate, exacerbate, or alleviate physical and psychological symptoms. She details the "medical view" that views menopause as a problem to be solved, rather than as a natural event. And, through women's words and case studies, she details psychospiritual approaches many are adopting to cope, instead of seeking potentially harmful medicines. Readers will find new insights, wisdom, and potential solutions in the array of voices, experiences, and paths taken and presented in this book.