When Older Women Speak

Studying the interaction of gender, class, race/ethnicity, and aging in the depression experience of older women provides a unique opportunity to understand how aging plays a significant role in shaping conceptions of self and emotional health trajectories for women. Based on author interviews with mostly working-class, depressed, elderly women, this book contributes to the theoretical understanding of femininity and aging and the practical implications for policy and effective health care treatment. Cultivating an "alternative self" can reduce older women’s suffering and provide the emotional resources to change their inner worlds, even if the outer world stretches beyond their control. Depression affects women twice as often as men. Up to 40 percent of older adults respond poorly to depression treatment, and depression is linked to higher morbidity and mortality rates and cognitive decline. Older adults with depression have 50 percent higher health care costs, yet depression is accurately recognized in less than one half of older adults in primary care. While older men are more likely to die by suicide, older women are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide, and depression is the best predictor of suicide in older adults. Latina and African American women have lower rates of depression treatment compared to non-minority women. From issues of health care access to the stigma of depression, older Latinas and African American women are at an increased risk for untreated depression. This book seeks to address some of the significant gaps in our knowledge of late-life depression in women, especially in ethnic minorities, ranging from detection and efficacy of depression treatment to informal influences (e.g., family) on formal depression care seeking.

"Studying the interaction of gender, class, race/ethnicity, and aging in the depression experience of older women provides a unique opportunity to understand how aging plays a significant role in shaping conceptions of self and emotional health trajectories for women. Based on author interviews with mostly working class, depressed elderly women, this book contributes to the theoretical understanding of femininity and aging and the practical implications for policy and effective health care treatment. Cultivating an "alternative self" can reduce older women's suffering and provide the emotional resources to change their inner worlds, even if the outer world stretches beyond their control. Depression affects women twice as often as men. Up to 40 percent of older adults respond poorly to depression treatment and depression is linked to higher morbidity and mortality rates and cognitive decline. Older adults with depression have 50 percent higher healthcare costs, yet depression is accurately recognized in less than one half of older adults in primary care. While older men are more likely to die by suicide, older women are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide, and depression is the best predictor of suicide in older adults. Latina and African-American women have lower rates of depression treatment compared to non-minority women. From issues of healthcare access to stigma of depression, older Latinas and African-American women are at an increased risk for untreated depression. This book seeks to address some of the significant gaps in our knowledge of late-life depression in women, especially in ethnic minorities, ranging from detection and efficacy of depression treatment to informal influences (e.g. family) on formal depression care seeking"--

Although breakups are a constant source of fascination, little attention has been given to women who are cut loose in their later years. This book is about (mostly) long-term relationships that have come apart. Each woman involved tells her own story through journal entries, essays, poetry, or stories.

The beloved New York Times columnist "inspires women to embrace aging and look at it with a new sense of hope" in this lively, fascinating, eye-opening look at women and aging in America (Parade Magazine). "You're not getting older, you're getting better," or so promised the famous 1970's ad -- for women's hair dye. Americans have always had a complicated relationship with aging: embrace it, deny it, defer it -- and women have been on the front lines of the battle, willingly or not. In her lively social history of American women and aging, acclaimed New York Times columnist Gail Collins illustrates the ways in which age is an arbitrary concept that has swung back and forth over the centuries. From Plymouth Rock (when a woman was considered marriageable if "civil and under fifty years of age"), to a few generations later, when they were quietly retired to elderdom once they had passed the optimum age for reproduction, to recent decades when freedom from striving in the workplace and caretaking at home is often celebrated, to the first female nominee for president, American attitudes towards age have been a moving target. Gail Collins gives women reason to expect the best of their golden years.

New York Times Bestseller * USA Today Bestseller* Los Angeles Times Bestseller * Publishers Weekly Bestseller A guide to wisdom, authenticity, and bliss for women as they age by the author of Reviving Ophelia. Women growing older contend with ageism, misogyny, and loss. Yet as Mary Pipher shows, most older women are deeply happy and filled with gratitude for the gifts of life. Their struggles help them grow into the authentic, empathetic, and wise people they have always wanted to be. In Women Rowing North, Pipher offers a timely examination of the cultural and developmental issues women face as they age. Drawing on her own experience as daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, caregiver, clinical psychologist, and cultural anthropologist, she explores ways women can cultivate resilient responses to the challenges they face. “If we can keep our wits about us, think clearly, and manage our emotions skillfully,” Pipher writes, “we will experience a joyous time of our lives. If we have planned carefully and packed properly, if we have good maps and guides, the journey can be transcendent.”

How do older women come to terms with widowhood? Are they vulnerable or courageous, predictable or creative in dealing with this life challenge? Most books about widows usually focus on younger women; this book interweaves the voices of older widows their experiences and insights to show how they have come to terms with widowhood and have recreated their lives in new, unsuspected ways. The widows speak about how they relate to their children, their friends, to men. With powerful emotions they describe their husbands’ final illnesses and deaths, and the challenging early days of widowhood. Disputing stereotypes about older women and widows, The Widowed Self allows the reader to visualize the impact of losing one’s life partner and offers a new way of thinking about widowhood. This new book by Deborah Kestin van den Hoonaard fills a void in previous work on widowhood. Rather than seeing these women as unfortunate, passive victims of life, the reader will come to appreciate the strength and creativity with which these women face one of life’s greatest challenges, a challenge that affects more than half of all women over the age of sixty-five. Widows and their families, scholars, social workers and other professionals who work with older adults will all be interested in reading The Widowed Self: The Older Woman’s Journey through Widowhood.

In 'Psychology of Positive Aging' researcher, trainer and author Ellen Heuven links the individual life stories of twenty women around the globe with scientific insights from, among others, positive psychology. The book focuses not so much on how lives become easier or more comfortable with aging, but rather on the expanding set of life skills that helps women to deal with the challenges and joys of life. Positive aging does not mean achieving wealth, being in shape or flourishing in an inspiring marriage. While these conditions can certainly contribute to a sense of well-being in aging, the emphasis of this book is on inner qualities, talents, attitudes, and the art of living all of which can be developed and cultivated regardless of circumstances. While it is undeniable that certain physical functions start to decline from a certain age, both the life stories of the interviewees and scientific literature show that psychological functioning can become more robust into old age. The women in this book are inspiring role models who show how you can grow, live a fulfilling live and achieve goals, not so much DESPITE but WITH or THANKS to aging.