The Women's Concise Guide to Emotional Well-Being

From the authors of The Harvard Guide to Women's Health This concise guide goes beyond facts and figures to get to the practical theories of women's emotional health. Here, in one volume, is what the experts know about maintaining emotional well-being in women, and about preventing, recognizing, and treating the psychological disturbances and disorders that women experience in their own way. Just as depression and anxiety are more common among women, many psychiatric disorders are exacerbated by the natural rhythms in a woman's life cycle, such as menarche, menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. This book offers expert insight into why and how such patterns occur, as well as coping strategies for insomnia, substance abuse, domestic violence, and sexual abuse which can occur at any stage of life. Most importantly, the authors answer such pressing questions as: What works best for treating panic attacks and phobias? Should psychotherapy be used in tandem with drugs? How does one choose among group, individual, or family therapy? What are the benefits and drawbacks of drugs such as Prozac? Of beta blockers? Of tranquilizers? Are psychiatric problems passed on to one's children? What are the merits of acupuncture, hypnosis, meditation, sex therapy? From the complexities of schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder to the delicate practicalities of sexual response, this guide offers all that a woman might want to know about protecting her psychological health.