Book Synopsis
In 2005 at the age of 46, I experienced what Western Medicine would most likely classify as a “nervous breakdown”. Seemingly out of nowhere, my whole body began to tremble and shake and my mind became overwhelmed with feelings of intense anxiety and panic. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I could barely breathe. My heart rate, which was usually around 65 or so, began pounding at rates as high as 105 beats per minute and my blood pressure soaring to readings as high as 178/100. Needless to say, I was terrified. And yet, as hard as I tried, I couldn’t figure out what was causing all of this midlife upheaval.
“Still don’t know what’s happening in my brain…am I dying? Am I going crazy…Or do I have a menopause psychosis? Or perhaps a psychosis related to all of my childhood trauma?”
It wasn’t until after dozens of trips to many different doctors and a brief stay in a psychiatric hospital that I stumbled across the term “Spiritual Emergency” and came to understand my midlife upheaval as a sort of healing crisis…a mind/body healing crisis brought on by my history of abuse and the shifting hormones of perimenopause. Knowing I'm not the only woman to experience this sort of "menopausal madness", I decided to write this memoir, my hope being to offer insights and support to women undergoing similar struggles. Do keep in mind that the intense upheaval I went through is not every woman's experience with perimenopause but is something that is much more common in women who are carrying the emotions and energies of unprocessed trauma or abuse.
For more information about feminine spirituality and the relationship between spiritual emergency and menopause, please refer to my websites: https://lyndawisdo.weebly.com and https:/menopauseincrisis.weebly.com