Female embodiment and clinical practice

Maureen Connolly

pp. 177-196

in: Toombs (ed), Handbook of phenomenology and medicine, Berlin, Springer, 2001

Abstract

During my most recent visit with my physician, we had an argument. This is not unusual; we often argue or, rather, we engage in mature and respectful professional disagreement. This recent "discussion" stemmed from a much earlier point of contention between us: Several years ago, I took myself off the ERT (Estrogen Replacement Therapy) prescribed for my bodily manifestations of precocious menopause. My physician had warned me at that time that all the physical distress controlled by the ERT would return; I assured her that the physical distress was a small price to pay for the return of my personality and my felt sense of my body.