Emotional Factors in the Climacterium of Women

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The emotionally well balanced person should not feel threatened by the approaching climacterium, which is a normal process. The biological event of the menopause is only a precipitating factor, not the cause of whatever emotional disturbances may appear at this age. Post-climacteric age can be a time of mature experiences and inner wisdom if the ego has been able to adapt itself successfully to the different previous phases of the life cycle and the mind remains alert and free from physical disease. It may even be a time of great mental serenity, stability and satisfaction in which the individual copes, without anxiety, with the natural ambivalence inherent to the human being. With his libidinal ties with the world of human objects becoming less powerful and demanding, the human person may find himself in a better position to face fustrations, mainly those involving threat or real loss of objects, with less pain and without regression. In other words, he finds himself better prepared to cope with painful reality, with greater judgment and less anger and disappointment than the younger person. However, in women as in men, more or less severe emotional disturbances frequently appear at this age preceding, accompanying, and following the biological event. These disturbances, generally of a depressive nature, are the expression of the ego to the loss that the climacterium involves particularly in women, that is felt as a narcissistic mortification, the intensity of which depends on the amount of ego strength and adaptation developed all through life. In some cases, the depression might be so severe that psychopharmacology and physical means may be indicated; in most of the cases a psychoanalytic oriented psychotherapy is exceedingly useful to help to reestablish the disturbed emotional equilibrium, the older person being, as stated, more able to face painful reality and inner anxieties than the younger.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: