blog #8- Menopause.....Society Isn't Helping "The Change"

So upon researching articles online about this daunting, yes, it's daunting to me, transition in life, I came across a pretty good one from the American Psychological Association website talking about many things including society's negative attitude towards menopause. The article also mentioned a couple studies including the one that is supposed to have a follow-up study out this year which was the Women's Health Initiative (DeAngelis, 2010). Primarily, I wanted to blog about what the psychologists are doing with women entering menopause using the article I found and how society doesn't seem to welcome the change with open arms but rather focus on the negative aspects of it. Personally, in my mind I would love to embrace the attitude where I say I am excited to "age" naturally and take on life with more wisdom and self-confidence that life experience provides you, however, in my reality the thought of hormonal imbalances, potential osteoporosis, hot flashes, and wrinkles doesn't excite me one bit. Does that make me negative Nancy or what? I can work on my attitude towards aging and hopefully by the time it hits me I have fine-tuned myself enough to take it all in gracefully....we shall see I suppose.

First of all, let's mention the many reasons why a woman, and a man, would be led to look at menopause with a big frown: *hot flashes *night sweats *sleep disturbance *loss of bone density *emotional disturbances *depression *end of child-bearing years *vaginal changes *decreased libido(2010). It's no wonder why we don't think positively right off the bat.

When the women in the studies were asked questions pertaining to body image and appearance they were more likely to judge themselves negatively whereas women who were asked open-ended questions about menopause were more likely to mention the positive aspects being end of mentruation, more time for themselves, as well as more confidence and wisdom (2010). Author DeAngelis (2010) quoted these women in her article saying, “The women in these studies generally say, ‘I wouldn’t want to go back and be 20 again,’” says Chrisler. “But if you force them to think about their bodies then, yes, they’d like to be 20 again.”

Some early research suggested that cognitive behavioral therapy was successful in helping menopausal women with hot flashes and night sweats which also had a positive effect on mood (2010). One psychologist in the article also mentions how women, especially younger women, will be able to better cope with menopause if they are educated and taught strategies such as "self-control, self-maintenance, emotional resilience, body acceptance and the ability to better discern others’ motives" (2010).

In conclusion, as a society, if we are able to change our focus from appearance and physical change to what the fifties will positively have to offer (time, pleasure, family, wisdom etc) than menopause wouldn't be entered in so awfully. We all age, we all go through physical changes and celebrating the end of our monthly should be a great thing. Life on the other side of menopause will be greener if we choose the attitude that gets us there....years of misery post menopause sound about as exciting as wrinkles to me!

Madonna's Material Girl/Menopausal Girl    -pretty funny-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbuPnn6wHb0&feature=related

Reference

DeAngelis, T. (2010, March). American Psychological Association: Menopause, the Makeover.

     Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/03/menopause.aspx