The Wrong Prescription for Women: How Medicine and Media Create a "Need" for Treatments, Drugs, and Surgery (Women's Psychology) - Tapa dura

"Maureen C. McHugh and Joan C. Chrisler have gathered together an impressive collection of chapters on the medicalization of women's normal physical experiences throughout the life cycle. While researchers have been writing about this phenomenon in relation to particular issues for decades, this collection highlights the broader problematic treatment of women's experiences, exposing commonalities concerning the treatment of the menstrual cycle, pregnancy and birth, infertility, sexual response, menopause, body size and image, and depression. Taken as a whole, the pattern is striking. . . . Because these chapters present research thoroughly, in language that is accessible for readers, they will help women to better understand their own life experiences and provide the impetus to think critically about their choices." - Psychology of Women Quarterly "The threads that tie the volume together are clear: the pathologizing and undervaluing of women's health-related experiences; the double-edged sword of medicalization, which can take women's health risks seriously while patronizingly 'localizing authority for [their health] care in the hands of physicians' (to quote the chapter titled 'Pregnancy and Birth as a Medical Crisis'); and social context and the influences of the media. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers." - Choice

This groundbreaking book challenges the medicalized approach to women's experiences including menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause and suggests that there are better ways for women to cope with real issues they may face. * Addresses popular topics including the "thin ideal," the health realities of weight, cosmetic surgery, birth as a medical emergency, sexual desire and menopause, depression, and mourning * Critiques the "science" and marketing that sees all women's complaints as symptoms, diseases, and dysfunctions requiring medical treatment * Explains how psychological and social factors affect women's health and argues for a more well-founded approach such as using talk therapy first * Explains why events like menopause, sexual desire, body dissatisfaction, and grief are examples of issues often not best treated with drugs, but with psychotherapy for permanent resolution * Will appeal to all adult women who might, or do, question current medical approaches and media promises