The Social and Psychological Origins of the Climacteric Syndrome

Bibliographic Data

ID11090067
AuthorsJoanne Stevenson (corresponding author), Joanne Sabol Stevenson, J G Greene
Year1986
Volume15
Issue2
Pages275
Publication date1986-03-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueContemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0094-3061 • E-ISSN: 1939-8638
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2307/2071726
OpenAlexW2325440328
LanguageEN
Citations received7

The social and psychological origins of the climacteric syndrome. John G. Greene. Gower Publishing Company Ltd., Aldershot, U.K. and Brookfield, VT, 1984, 247 pp., $ 29.50. When I first became involved in research on the psychosocial aspects of the climacteric in 1969 I had only few studies to refer to. Only the study by Neugarten and coworkers (1963) and the study of Laszlo Jaszmann (1967) into the epidemiology of climacteric complaints, a study in which I had been indirectly involved, gave me some clues about the importance of social factors for symptom formation in the years around the menopause. Uninhibited therefore by too much knowledge, and largely ignorant about sociological techniques, I leapt into my first research project: a comparative study of attitudes towards the menopause in five European countries. When the results appeared I had progressed in my thinking, and guided by Jean Kellerhals, a sociologist who joined forces with me, we continued our expeditions into that unknown area: the climacteric as a psychosocial and cultural phenomenon. Now, fifteen years later, climacteric research has come of age. I am grateful to John Greene for having compiled this status quo report of work done in the past. The first chapters of this book, on terminology, on climacteric symptoms and oestrogen therapy are primarily intended, I think, to explain to the social scientist what the climacteric means in medical terms. Still, they are a useful introduction even for the medical researchers in this field. I was surprised to see how few good placebo-controlled, double-blind studies have been done into the effects of oestrogens on climacteric complaints. The author has reviewed these critically. With regard to effects of oestrogens on the psyche, the author concluded: “any psychotropic effect of oestrogen remains undemonstrated”. I tend to agree with that statement. Controlled studies have provided insufficient evidence for any such effect. Yet every clinician who has treated climacteric patients has been struck by the consistency in the effect of oestrogen therapy on psychic well-being of his patient. Obviously it is difficult to quantify such an effect, but I am sure that, in time, the evidence will be brought forward. Not only are well-controlled, double-blind clinical studies on the effect of therapy few in number, but also studies of the social, cultural and psychological factors influencing symptom formation at the climacteric are scarce. The advantage however, is that here the research done by different workers is often complementary, each study adding a piece or several pieces to the jigsaw puzzle. This book shows the jigsaw puzzle as it is today. The author has incorporated new ideas and findings concerning the effects of life events such as death in the natal family into the concept that has grown over the years. He comes to a synthesis and presents a model of vulnerability which is very attractive and allows us to identify which women are heading for a difficult climactaric and which are not. The

Climacteric · Menopause · Estrogen and related hormone effects · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Psychology

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