Book Review
Women’s Health 
Menopause: A Mental Health Practitioner’s Guide Donna Stewart, editor. American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc; 2005. 185 p. $US34.95.
Reviewer
rating*: Excellent
Review by: Laura Lucia Calhoun, MD
Winnipeg, Manitoba
This new book, edited by one of Canada’s experts in reproductive psychiatry, contains everything you ever wanted to know about menopause, perimenopause, and postmenopause from a psychological and psychiatric viewpoint. This handy, condensed reference guide includes information about both the normal and abnormal physiology of women in this age group. This book reviews studies of mood disorders in midlife as well as whether female hormones are causal, or merely correlational, to mood disorders.
The 2 chapters in the middle of this volume—“Effects of Reproductive Hormones and Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators on the CNS During Menopause,” and “Mood Disorders, Midlife, and Reproductive Aging”—are the most informative chapters and form the core knowledge of the book. Considering the detailed information they present, these 2 chapters alone are worth the price of the book.
Although there is no evidence of an increase in the incidence of major depression during perimenopause, there are many women who present with depressive symptoms at this life transition. This seeming contradiction is discussed in detail, and several lines of potential reasoning are explored.
Less common illnesses, including psychosis in women at midlife and the medical aspects of perimenopause and menopause, are also examined. One less favourable aspect of this book is that each chapter has its own review (background information) of the broader theme. This becomes tedious and superfluous after the first few chapters, if the book is read as a whole. Practitioners who dip in to one chapter as a review, however, will find the background information helpful.
Clinicians will find this latest addition to women’s mental health literature a positive one with great, current information in a concise, soft-cover, reasonably priced package.
*Reviewer
Rating Scale/ Échelle d’évaluation du réviseur
Excellent / Excellent
Very Good / Très bon
Good / Bon
Fair / Passable
Not recommended / Pas recommandé
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