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Women's Experience at the Time of Menopause: Accounting for Biological, Cultural and Psychological Embodiment

Massey University, New Zealand

In understanding health and illness, it has long been apparent that psychological and social aspects are as important as the biological explanations of the biomedical model. Recent studies of women's experience of menopause have demonstrated the psychological and social constructions of women's bodies, but have neglected to include individual embodiment and the notion of a social world that is inescapably embodied. This paper presents arguments for the consideration of an integrated approach to embodiment and, drawing upon recent theorizing, a conceptual framework that is able to take into account the integration of psyche, biology, and culture. The accounts of 80 New Zealand women, aged between 45 and 60, are analysed, using categories labelled, ‘visceral’, ‘experiential’, ‘normative’ and ‘pragmatic’, to provide a description of women's embodied and culturally embedded experience of menopause. The incorporation of these analytic categories, and the usefulness of the application of the model in contemporary applied work, is discussed.

Key Words: body • embodiment • menopause • women's health

Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 6, No. 6, 651-663 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/135910530100600604


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