Kate Kurata1, Alison Christy2
1University of California, San Diego, 2Providence
Objective:
To observe the documentation of climacteric neurosis in association with menopause from 1880 to 1920.
Background:
Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, menopause was documented as a period of neurological fragility. Various medical researchers of the time analyzed climacteric neurosis as a condition signified by psychoses, depression, and cognitive decline. These descriptions established expectations in both neurological conditions and societal expectations about women’s age and health.
Design/Methods:
We researched European and American historical medical documents written in 1880 to 1920, with reports of gynecological and neurological theories of the female body. We then reviewed the sources for clinical and psychiatric descriptions of climacteric neurosis with an association of menopause.
Results:
Medical researchers frequently associated/classified menopause as a neurological crisis or a cause for climacteric neurosis. This classification contributed to the social assumption of the instability of the female mind, undermining the challenges women face during menopause. Reports in Peridische Psycho (1890) classified psychoses of the climacterium during menstruation and outside of menstruation as distinct categories. This supported the idea that there is an association between climacteric neurosis and the female hormonal cycle. These medical frameworks pushed various social connotations towards women.
Conclusions:
Between 1880 and 1920, climacteric neurosis functioned as a diagnostic label synthesizing neurological theories to gender bias. The historical documentation of “insanity” in women showcased how menopause was weaponized throughout neurological practices, providing the framework of early approaches to the misunderstanding of medical care for women.
Disclaimer: Abstracts were not reviewed by Neurology® and do not reflect the views of Neurology® editors or staff.