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The Madness Of Women

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Part of the Women and Psychology series

Why are women more likely to be positioned or diagnosed as mad than men? If madness is a social construction, a gendered label, as many feminist critics would argue, how can we understand and explain women’s mental health problems? In turn can we prevent or treat mental health problems, in a non-pathologising women centred way? The Madness of Women addresses these questions through a rigorous exploration of the myths and realities of women’s madness.

Drawing on academic and clinical experience, including case studies and in-depth interviews, as well as on the now extensive critical literature in the field of mental health, Jane Ussher presents a critical multifactorial analysis of women’s madness that both addresses the notion that madness is a myth, and yet acknowledges the reality and multiple causes of women’s distress.

This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of psychology, gender studies, sociology, women’s studies, cultural studies counseling and nursing.

Table of Contents

Part I: A Case to Answer: Are Women More Mad Than Men? Women’s Madness: Fact or Fantasy? Madness and the Body: Regulation Through Reductionism. Deconstruction of Madness: A Step Too Far? Subjectification. Part II: The Routes to Women’s Distress – Beyond Reductionism and Constructivism. A Material-Discursive-Intrapsychic Framework. Myth of Heterosexual Romance. Embodiment and The Curse of The Beauty Myth. Gender and Power. The Dangers of Sex. Motherhood: Myth and Reality. Women as Other – Marginalisation and Alienation. Woman Against Woman. Attachment and Holding in Childhood. Part III: Prevention and Intervention. Social Policy and Political Strategies. Women Centred Interventions.

Author Biography

Jane Ussher is Professor of Women's Health Psychology, and director of the Gender Culture and Health Research Unit: PsyHealth, at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. She is author and editor of a number of books, including The Psychology of the Female Body, Body Talk: Material and Discursive Regulation of Sexuality, Madness and Reproduction and Managing the Monstrous Feminine: Regulating the Reproductive Body. Her current research focuses on women's sexual and reproductive health, with particular emphasis on premenstrual experiences, and gendered issues in caring.