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The Adaptive Function of the Menopause: A Devil's Advocate Position
Author(s) -
AlingtonMackin Diane,
Troll Lillian E.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1981.tb01240.x
Subject(s) - medicine , menopause , estrogen , perspective (graphical) , intervention (counseling) , medical prescription , disease , safer , perception , gerontology , endocrinology , psychiatry , nursing , neuroscience , computer security , artificial intelligence , computer science , biology
The menopause may be adaptive, in that it minimizes exposure to endogenous estrogen. However, ageist and sexist assumptions have distorted society's perceptions so that the menopause has come to be viewed as a “deficiency disease,” best treated through the routine prescription of estrogen replacement therapy. Recent evidence suggests that menopausal discomfort has been exaggerated, and that most reported symptoms are not directly attributable to declining estrogen levels but to other biologic and social variables. A change in perspective might have the beneficial consequence of providing women with more effective, and probably safer, forms of therapeutic intervention.