A Synopsis of Theoretical Approaches to Secondary Amenorrhea

Abstract

Menstruation, menstrual taboos, and the pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS) have received much attention in anthropology. Paige and Paige (1981), Schlehe (1987), and Buckley and Gottlieb (1988) have succinctly synthesized theoretical approaches to these phenomena. In contrast, reviews of theories on the absence of menstruation, amenorrhea, are fairly rare. This essay therefore focuses primarily on such theories. It first provides a brief definition of amenorrhea and an overview of recent scholarship, and then discusses traditional Chinese medical theories as well as Western medical and psychological views. It subsequently considers amenorrhea in the framework of socio-cultural factors, demonstrating that the context, often neglected in previous studies, is significant in shaping the condition itself. The essay concludes by suggesting a multiple theoretical approach, which combines the strengths of different disciplines, to throw light on a topic that has hitherto been analyzed from single theoretical, and thus somewhat limited, perspectives.