UCSF experts and Bay Area women will reflect on attitudinal healing, spirituality, the signals of menopause, and social security during the seventh annual UCSF Women's Health 2000 conference. The all-day program, which will feature a wide array of topics important to women and women's health, will take place from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Saturday, March 18, at UC San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Ave.
"In addition to traditional medical topics such as breast cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis, this year we are exploring themes of harmony and health," says program chair Nancy Milliken, MD, director of the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women's Health. "This annual symposium has evolved into an informative, fun, inspiring day for women of all ages and interests."
The popular conference draws between 400 and 600 participants from the Bay Area every year. Featured topics include:
Attitudinal Healing
Today's lives are so busy that individuals often, literally, do not stop to smell the roses. "We really need to pause and question whether our 'to do' lists are the most important things in our lives," says keynote speaker and Bay Area psychotherapist Diane V. Cirincione, PhD. "We need to focus on simplicity and balance, as well as the importance of quieting our minds, and incorporate these things into a healing process."
Cirincione, who is also a post-doctoral researcher at UCSF's Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, and her partner psychiatrist Gerald G. Jampolsky, MD, will share the principles of "attitudinal healing" during their keynote address. They will emphasize that as we change the thoughts in our mind, the world we see changes.
The pair also will provide practical examples that illustrate the dynamics of decision making, and discuss the impact on spirituality of seeing death and experiencing other medical events. Cirincione and Jampolsky will present stepping stones toward peace of mind when chaos seems to be all around. They will discuss why it seems so difficult to forgive, and offer guidelines to the process of forgiving. They also will talk about spiritual deprivation and ways of inner healing where we can heal our hearts and experience harmony in what we think, say and do.
For 25 years Cirincione and Jampolsky have introduced and supported culturally appropriate adaptations of their psycho-social-spiritual model, called "Attitudinal Healing," into every aspect of daily life. They have written 14 books together, including Love is the Answer; Wake-Up Calls; Change Your Mind, Change Your Life; and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Their work has inspired 150 independent, culturally adapted centers in 30 countries, all offering free support services to their communities. Jampolsky founded the first attitudinal healing center in 1975, which is now located in Sausalito, Calif.
Taking Care of the Spirit and Your Health
Women lead hectic lives, working long hours at their jobs and handling a mountain of responsibilities at home. But in this whirlwind world it's important for women to stop and reflect for a few moments each day, directing energy to themselves and their spirituality, says Marilyn Hill Harper, MD, UCSF professor emeritus of anesthesia.
Spirituality is not only going to church or adhering to other religious practices, Harper says. "I describe it as a search for meaning in life or for God, if you believe in a higher power," she said. "It's the idea that there is a larger force than the individual."
Spirituality can lead to better health, she said, because it can make you attentive to what is going on with your own body.
"Awareness leads to thoughtfulness and this helps in making good lifestyle choices. Spirituality gives you a reverence for life, and if you have this you make choices about what you eat, your activities and how you relate to other people," Harper says.
"You make choices from a different point of view. It helps you listen to your body and take responsibility for you own health and well being," she says.
There are many ways to incorporate spirituality into everyday life. Harper suggests taking a walk, being in nature, reading something inspirational, writing a gratitude journal, saying a prayer and sitting quietly for 10 to 30 minutes each day. Some studies show that spirituality has a positive impact on health, such as one report that found a link between prayer and improved health, according to Harper.
"There's quite a bit to indicate that positive thoughts and compassionate thoughts have an effect on us," she said.
Decoding the Confusing Signals of Menopause
More than 4,000 women a day in the United States enter menopause - the time when the ovaries stop producing estrogen and menstrual cycles stop. The average age of menopause is 51. Today, women are actively seeking information and taking charge of their menopause.
"Women want to understand the physical changes that their bodies are undergoing and how they can manage related symptoms," says Louann Brizendine, MD, UCSF associate clinical professor of psychiatry and director of the UCSF Hormone and Mood Assessment Clinic. "Since over a third of their lives will be lived after menopause, women also want to know how they can protect their health and prevent disease."
Brizendine speaks often about the influence of hormones on a woman's quality of life and on improving the evaluation and treatment of women with premenstrual syndrome, peri-menopausal and sexual changes.
While each woman experiences this stage of life differently, the hormonal decline has an impact on several organ systems which may cause hot flashes, sleep variations, vaginal dryness, irritability and mood changes, changes in sexual energy, bone loss and increased risk of cardiovascular conditions.
There are many approaches that a woman can choose to manage both the symptoms of menopause and disease prevention after menopause. These include: regular exercise; eating a healthy diet; taking sensible supplements such as calcium, vitamin D, and B complex vitamins; and finding a health care provider who will talk over the pros and cons of hormone use and other medications.
Hormone replacement therapy reduces many of the short-term symptoms of menopause and may offer preventive long-term effects against osteoporosis, heart disease, Alzheimer's and colon cancer.
Many women are concerned about an increased risk of breast cancer when taking hormone replacements. There is no solid evidence of increased risk of breast cancer after short-term use, but a recent study suggested that longer use of hormones was associated with a slight increased risk.
"Crafting a personal wellness plan is an important part of maintaining health and preventing disease after menopause," Brizendine says. "Women should consider their family history, lifestyle behaviors, and risk for diseases, as well as discuss all options with their physicians."
Brizendine has an active research program on the effects of hormone replacement therapy on mood and alternative approaches to hormone replacement therapy. For more information, call (415) 476-7878.
Social Security: What Women Don't Know Can Hurt Them
Social Security benefits are responsible for lifting millions of Americans out of poverty. Without Social Security, half of all older households would fall below the poverty line, compared to the current 9 percent, and the poverty rate for single and non-married older women would reach 60 percent. The situation would be even worse for African-American and Hispanic women, according to Carroll Estes, PhD. UCSF professor of sociology.
"Women are more financially dependent upon Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid than men, and women's longer survival means that they depend on benefits for more years than men," she says. Estes, who is the former director of the UCSF Institute for Health and Aging, has conducted research in issues related to aging for more than 25 years.
Estes contends that older women's economic vulnerability is now about twice that of men. Older women, she says, are challenged by multiple societal trends, including a changed family structure with rising divorce rates, single parent households, increased pressures to provide informal unpaid long-term caregiving, and policy changes in Medicare, disability insurance, and welfare reform.
"This situation underscores the importance of having Social Security for all Americans," Estes says. "Women need to pay attention to all changes that are proposed in Social Security, and understand how these changes impact their own situation."
Because of their relatively greater disadvantaged economic status, older women are more likely than older men to be recipients of the two federal-state programs for the poor in the U.S. - Medicaid (health care for the poor) and Supplemental Security Income (cash assistance for the low income aged, blind, and disabled). For example:
* In 1996, 58 percent of Medicaid recipients were women and 61 percent of total vendor payments were made to women
* During 1997, 55 percent of disabled SSI recipients and over 70 percent of aged SSI recipients were female and over 70% of aged SSI recipients were women
* Women represented 59 percent of the Medicare beneficiaries during 1996
* (Rice and Michel, 1998)Over 70 percent of Medicare beneficiaries 85 or older were women(HCFA, 1998c)
"Clearly, women have a great stake in these health care and social welfare programs," Estes says. "Today's younger women need to factor in how personal and career decisions they make now will affect their Social Security benefits later in life."
Women's Health 2000 will feature 30 sessions on subjects ranging from fitness to depression, the biologic clock to breast and ovarian cancer, and from women who break all the rules to the link between spirituality and health. The $50 registration fee includes participation in seminars, continental breakfast, lunch, snacks and live entertainment. Discounts will be offered for seniors ($40). For more information or to register, call (415) 399-1379 or e-mail womenh@aol.com .
Women's Health 2000 is sponsored by the UCSF Center of Excellence (COE) in Women's Health, the Mount Zion Health Fund and the Obstetrics and Gynecology Research and Education Foundation. The COE was one of six vanguard national centers designated, in 1996, by the Office on Women's Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The COE is developing partnerships with individuals and organizations to enhance research, clinical care, education and leadership activities geared toward improving the health and well-being of women and girls across diverse communities.