| Menopause is a major physiological event for women - we stop ovulating. But menopause also gets confused with other important life issues, as our relationships change and we grow older.  "For many women, menopause is a marker of aging," says Carol Landau, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist on the faculty at Brown University School of Medicine in Rhode Island, and coauthor of The Complete Book of Menopause. "A lot of us baby boomers are struggling right now, because we were the youthful ones, we were the ones who said, `Never trust anyone over 30.' Well, guess what? It's our time to be older now," Dr. Landau states. "We've got to turn that around... [Menopause] could be a marker for more freedom, a marker for more power." Menopause and depression Many women become depressed at menopause. But no study so far has been able to show that menopause itself causes depression. "The studies of women who do become depressed at menopause - and they're not the majority, they're the minority - suggest that those women are under high social stress," Dr. Landau states. Menopause comes at a time when many women are still caretaking: caring for their children, worrying about their husband's health, and taking on the care of their parents or in-laws. "For some women, menopause is like the straw that breaks the camel's back," she says. The danger in blaming "hormones" alone is that it can prevent women from getting proper treatment for depression, she adds. Seizing the moment Just think of menopause as a wake-up call, Dr. Landau advises. "It's like aging is knocking on your door - time to pay attention." She recommends some healthy steps to take: - Find social support: "Find women who are either your age or older who have been through menopause."
- Work hard: "I've always believed in hard work," she says, "something that takes you out of yourself," such as writing, a career change, or community work, for example.
- Exercise: Find a form of exercise you like and do it at least three times a week for 20 minutes.
The most important thing to remember, Dr. Landau says, is that most women get through menopause just fine. |
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