Hormonal : a conversation about women's bodies, mental health and why we need to be heard / Eleanor Morgan.

  • Morgan, Eleanor (Journalist)
Date:
2019
  • Books

About this work

Description

Hormonal explores everything from contraception to PMS, in relation to anxiety, depression and taboos about hysteria and the 'hormonal' woman. It is a compelling portrait of the modern landscape of women and health, showing us how to navigate stigma and misinformation. Combining her own experiences with extensive research and expert contributions, Eleanor Morgan explores the relationship between the female body, the female mind and the ways in which women's bodies are being medicalised. As Morgan argues, we've gotten better at talking about mental health, but we still shy away from discussing periods, miscarriage, endometriosis and menopause. That results in a lack of vital understanding for women, particularly as those processes are inextricably connected to our mental health; by exploring women's bodies in conjunction with our minds, Morgan urges for new thinking about our health.

Publication/Creation

London : Virago Press, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group, 2019.

Physical description

245 pages ; 24 cm

Contributors

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references.

Contents

Part one / That day -- Intelligent flesh -- The female animal -- Part two / Anatomy -- Puberty -- Eggs and fertility -- Blood -- The happiness fantasy -- The cycle: a vital sign -- Menstrual phase (days 1 to 5) -- Follicular phase (days 1 to 13 -- Ovulation phase (day 14) -- Luteal or 'secretory' phase (days 15 to 28) -- The thyroid -- Part three / Pathological femaleness -- Imprinting -- Leaky -- Hysteria: 'an animal within an animal' -- Hunting witches -- Repuation -- Don't be so sensitive -- Exploding -- Surveillance -- Bad clitoris! -- 'Returning' to the sexual body -- Come again? -- Oxytocin -- Nipple sadness -- Part four / 'It's just chemical', or: what is fixed and what isn't -- Personality -- Softening plaster -- 'Imbalance' -- PMS and neurotransmitters -- Gender differences in mental health: not that simple -- Formal recognition -- Validation -- Truth serum -- Diagnosis: not for everyone -- Borderline personality disorder: a bad name for real suffering -- The weight of trauma -- Conversion -- Part five / Pain -- Believing -- Scars -- Due scepticism -- Birth stories and pain thresholds -- A word on wellness -- I don't want to put hormones in my body -- How to treat a problem that is neither 'just hormones' nor 'all in the mind' -- Pills, gels and coils -- Tomatoes, microbiome and yeast -- Forgetting the basics -- Bio-identical hormones -- HRT horses -- The lure of precision -- Finally -- Acknowledgements -- Notes.

Languages

Subjects

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    SY.U
    		Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 0349011397
  • 9780349011394