Women are usually more in touch with their emotions than men and more readily seek help from professional sources when they encounter stress. The response they meet from doctors and other helping professionals at this point can be vital in determining the best outcome for them. Ashurst and Hall have written this book as a contribution towards a better understanding of the psychological aspects of women's health problems.

Contents; Foreword; Introduction; Part One - Womanhood; 1. Understanding Distress: the development and relief of symptoms; 2. Woman's Role and Identity: biological and sociological influence; 3. The Development of Feminine Identity and Sexuality; 4. On Becoming a Mother: psychodynamic issues of adolescence, mating and parenthood Dinora Pines; 5. Bonding and Rejection; Part Two - Distressed Womanhood; 6. Hungry Womanhood: eating disorders; 7. Womanhood Despoiled: childhood sexual abuse; 8. Lesbian Womanhood; 9. Childless Womanhood; 10. Barren Womanhood: psychological aspects of infertility George Christie and Mike Pawson; 11. Motherhood Thwarted: miscarriage, stillbirth and adoption; 12. Motherhood Bereft: loss of a child; 13. Motherhood Disappointed: the imperfect child; 14. Motherhood Depressed; 15. Perverse Womanhood: physical and psychological child abuse; 16. Bereft Womanhood: bereavement and widowhood; 17. Pairing and Parting: divorce and remarriage; 18. Single Motherhood Jane Price; 19. Step Motherhood Gill Gorell-Barnes; 20. Femininity assaulted: hysterectomy, gynaecological malignancy and mastectomy