Women

INTRODUCTION: Perinatal major depressive disorder affects 20% of women, while perinatal anxiety affects 10% of women. Although pharmacological treatment has shown effectiveness, many pregnant women are concerned about potential adverse effects on the fetus, maternal-infant bonding, and child development. Approximately 38% of American adults use complementary and alternative medicine, including yoga and other mind-body strategies.

INTRODUCTION: Perinatal major depressive disorder affects 20% of women, while perinatal anxiety affects 10% of women. Although pharmacological treatment has shown effectiveness, many pregnant women are concerned about potential adverse effects on the fetus, maternal-infant bonding, and child development. Approximately 38% of American adults use complementary and alternative medicine, including yoga and other mind-body strategies.

The purpose of this study was to examine the religious belief of the elderly women in Hong Kong and how their life satisfaction and depressive symptoms were related to various dimensions of religiosity. Data based on a community sample of older women (N = 180, mean age = 74.2 years) indicated that majority of them (56.7%) reported beliefs in folk religion and ancestor worship. The Catholics and Buddhists appeared to enjoy a better mental health status than did the Protestants, which seemed to be mediated by better family supports and physical health condition.

This essay argues for a renewed institution of an ancient Christian practice, the Order of Widows. Drawing on the Roman Catholic tradition's recent writings on the elderly, particularly the 1998 document from the Pontifical Council for the Laity entitled "The Dignity of Older People and their Mission in the Church and in the World," I argue that we find within the Roman Catholic tradition advocacy for a renewed understanding of the vocation of the elderly within the Church.

Elderly women have normal romantic and sexual fantasies. Bodies age but dreams and feelings may remain forever young. That is every person's privilege at any age. Intimacy is a joy that has many levels, only one of which is sexual but all aspects are open to aware older women who refuse to be disenfranchised by our commercial emphasis on youth. Older women continue to care and to share, they also recognize the barriers to, the benefits of, and the lasting ways to attain closeness into late age.