The purpose of this book is to consider the woman and her health needs in her
position in her life cycle, her family, and society. Women have historically
been ‘‘the other’’ in medical care. Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson considered
women’s development to be deviant from the normal, which was men’s.
Although the Greeks Hippocrates and Soranus wrote about women’s medical
needs, women’s health concerns have either been considered abnormal, or,
traditionally, been condensed to their gynecological functions and disorders,
perhaps because these were their only valued functions. Since the 1860s and
the organization of medicine, women’s health and those who provided for it
were usually considered one of the least important parts of medicine. In the
past 20 to 40 years, women’s health concerns have begun to take their place as
topics worthy of discussion.
Recognizing that combining ‘‘all women’’ into any classiWcation is fraught
with diYculties, this book attempts to distinguish and point out the diVerences
and individualities of women. Women are more likely to be diVerent than
all alike, and must be treated as individuals.
Because much of clinical experience and research does not separate or
study women independently, this book examines the strength and depth of
evidence, using clinical experience and data discovered on studies on women,
when available, and on men, when research on women is lacking. Thus, at
times, deciding on the best way to help the woman manage health concerns
may be diYcult.
Finally, realizing that women seek physicians’ care for a variety of purposes,
only some of which are medical diseases, this book emphasizes collaborative
care between the woman and her physician. Women’s health concerns are not
all diseases, nor should all women be considered patients. Contraception,
fertility, infertility, cigarette, alcohol and drug abuse, sexuality, life changes,
and family problems need collaboration and cooperative care, not disease
management. Emphasizing prevention, this book will help practitioners’ daily
work with women to promote health.