Moody Bitches

by Julie Holland, Laurence Bouvard (Reading)

Overworked? Exhausted? Powering between career, family and friends and frazzled and libido-less as a result? No wonder you're moody! But as New York psychiatrist Julie Holland explains in her radical and eye-opening new book, the first step to overcoming the lows is to accept that being testy is in our nature - we were made to be Moody Bitches. Being a successful modern woman is hard, and for so many of us the constant flux in our hormones and the dip and dives our mood swings take makes it that much harder. For over 17 years, women have visited celebrated psychopharmacologist Dr Julie Holland looking for the miracle cure to eradicate these feelings. Now, in her illuminating and honest Moody Bitches, she details the invaluable advice she shares with her patients, revealing how suppressing our natural emotions is actually damaging. Instead she offers tried and tested alternatives to help keep the moods under control, making exhaustion and low sex-drive a thing of the past.From the meds you can trust to those you can't; from the foods you should be eating, the healthy behaviours you should be practising and the herbal remedies that actually work, Dr Julie imparts wisdom from years of not only professional but personal experience too. Simple yet revolutionary, Moody Bitches is the life-changing self-help book for women and those who love them.

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Health, Psychology, Feminism, Audiobook, Mental Health

Audiobook

First published March 3, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Dr. Julie Holland is a board-certified psychiatrist in New York City. From 1996 to 2005, Dr. Holland ran the psychiatric emergency room of Bellevue Hospital on Saturday and Sunday nights. A liaison to the hospital's medical emergency room and toxicology department, she is considered an expert on street drugs and intoxication states, and lectures widely on this topic.

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book rather disappointing and far from groundbreaking. If you're reasonably educated and read more than your friends' Facebook posts, you won't find any new information here. I found myself skipping through numerous chapters as much due to lack of new material as by the way it’s organized in life stages. And while I heartily endorse Holland's more holistic approach to wellness (eat better, sleep more, spend more time communing with nature), she goes off the deep end a few times. I just don't think removal of unwanted hair compares to deadening emotions with SSRIs, they don’t both merit the same attention and a well-tended landscape is not at the root of all evil moods.

Maybe it was her sanctimonious delivery (I listened to the audio version), but I was often frustrated with the material and she just added to my bitchy mood. I really thought she would provide the revolutionary and enlightening information the hype promised, maybe shed new light on medical approaches or further my understanding of hormonal fluctuations. Zero for three on all counts. I’m giving it two stars because there was some marginally useful information (the drug appendix at the end, for instance), but mostly it felt like a very long Cosmo article and I only pick up that publication if there’s nothing else to read at the doctor’s office.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

"We are not men. We are women. We feel more deeply, express our emotions more frequently, and get moody monthly. It's normal. It's nature's way. And we don't necessarily have to medicate away the essence of who we are to make others more comfortable."

In psychiatrist, Julie Holland's book: Moody Bitches, she incorporates self-help, science, and women's health issues to deliver perspective and clinical information about naturally cycling moods in the female body. Dr. Holland wrote this book in response to an influx of women coming to her office, seeking out psychotropic medications to suppress their mood. Specifically, she saw a trend of women asking which medication they should take, not if medication was needed. Dr. Holland discusses the multitude of factors that are encouraging this course of action, such as heavy pharmaceutical marketing towards the female audience and women trying to advance in a male-dominated world where an emotional female is often marked as unstable.

Dr. Holland lets her readers know what mood cycles are normal and expected throughout the month as well as during key transitions in a woman's life. There are four parts to Moody Bitches with titles that are pretty self-explanatory...

Part 1: Moody by Nature
Part 2: Mating, MILFS, Monogamy and Menopause
Part 3: Moody Bitches Survival Guide
Park 4: Naming Names: A Guide to Selected Drugs

In my field, I work with many who suffer from true mood disorders and I've seen both sides of the coin in terms of these drugs causing 180 degree changes...some nightmarishly bad and some miraculously good. Although there are times when psychotropics may be the first course of action, I am in favor of trying non-medicated approaches before reaching for a script whenever possible and Dr. Holland agrees. I love that she is reaching out to women and inspiring them to learn about what is normal and natural first. It's called a well-informed decision for a reason!

Being a moody bitch means being a warrior, and your first point of defense should be yourself. Be your own best advocate. You deserve downtime and pleasure, and your needs matter. Honor your hearty appetites for food, sex, and sleep. Stop beating yourself up with “shoulds.” Find the healthiest thing that soothes your aching heart and give it to yourself without shame.

Dr. Holland opens and closes with a bang and she has offered an eye-catching and intriguing title for sure, but the meat of this book felt a bit dry to me. It's incredibly useful information but in my opinion, Moody Bitches may serve best as a keep-on-hand resource guide rather than a read-straight-through leisure experience. That's just based on my experience though. Check it out for yourself! Knowledge is power...in this case girl power ;)

My favorite quote:
We are all beautiful and imperfect. You can't postpone self-acceptance until after you've lost fifty pounds or switched jobs or found a partner. Start where you are. You need to call a piece of earth a garden before it can bear flowers. You have to cordon off a square of weeds and rocks before you can work the soil and plant the seeds in order to cultivate anything. This is a case of “act as if.” If love and care is not applied first, there will be no forward movement. You can't care for something you don't care about.


9/12/16:
It's Monday so this book is incredibly appropriate...

[Lisa Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was out on maternity leave when 9/11 happened and about month later I went back to work. In addition to just being generally anxious in post-9/11 NYC (I jumped out of my skin every time I heard a loud noise), I was totally stressed out from lack of sleep and it was tearing my heart out every day to leave my two-month-old baby behind to go to work. I cried every morning on my two hour train commute into the city. I was a wreck. At some point I was prescribed Lexapro and it helped quite a bit. I wasn't weepy and I wasn't getting those fluttering adrenalin rushes.

The thing is, I now have to face the fact that my body and my emotions were telling me something important and instead of listening, I chose to medicate those feelings away. Even if I did need it to get through a difficult time, I stayed on the medication for far too long. I don't think I was able to properly grieve for my parents when they died. Things didn't get to me as much, but I ignored real problems in my lifestyle, my marriage, and my financial state--I made poor decisions at least partly because I was cut off from my own intuition.

For these reasons I relate very strongly to what Dr. Holland writes in Moody Bitches--I wish I had it available to me ten years ago. It would have given me the information I needed to make a better choice for myself; it would have helped me realize that there wasn't anything wrong with me--it was just the untenable situation I was in.

I would recommend this book to pretty much all of my women friends in their twenties, thirties, forties and beyond. It's a great book to read whether or not you are taking any medications, but especially if you are--medications for anxiety and depression as well as birth control, sleep remedies or hormone replacement therapy. All of these medications have side effects and will result in unintended consequences that I'm sure many people don't realize.

Some will see this book as a backlash against medications that are helping many women, but I don't see it that way at all. Holland isn't advocating an end to prescribing these drugs, she is only putting information out that there we need in order to make the best health decisions. There is no way that one in four women need to be on mood-regulating medications. I think this is a bad situation created by the pharmaceutical industry and living in a culture with upside down priorities.

I love Holland's holistic approach; taking care of our physical bodies in a natural way will help us achieve emotional health as well. She includes a lot of great information about the importance of good sleep habits, eating healthy, having good sex, and being exposed to nature. The goal is to move away from depression and anxiety while facing difficulties like sadness, grief and worry, which brings me to what I believe is one omission in Holland's book: religious practice. Holland does talk about meditation and yoga, but does not mention at all the positive effects on well-being experienced by people who regularly attend a church, synagogue or mosque (this is borne out by several recent studies). Religious service attendance promotes social interaction, involves meditative states in the form of quiet time, prayer and music and the teachings encourage charity, compassion and the cultivation of gratitude. Holland touts all of these as non-medical ways to combat stress, depression and anxiety. Faith also provides a powerful mechanism for coping with the inevitable bad stuff that happens in all of our lives. With all the negative attention devoted to religion in the news today perhaps it's easy for people to forget that going to a religious service weekly provides these benefits, but I think they have a place right beside the many others Holland explores so well in this book.

[Lindaanne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like "Moody Bitches." With such a catchy title and interesting subject matter it seemed like a slam dunk. However I was disappointed to find that much of the book is based on based on quack "science" with no statistically significant research to back it up. It also bothers me that the author chooses to prescribe drugs to her patients with potentially serious side effects, and that she chooses not to take those drugs herself - even though she suffers from the same mood swings and other ailments that her pill-popping patients do. Why not, could it be the negative side effect profiles of those drugs? Seem likely. However, most troubling is the fact that this book could seriously set back the women's movement if people believe that PMS and other normal hormonal fluctuations have such profound effects on women's behavior. I have never sobbed and gotten really horny at certain times of the month, and I don't know any women who act like this either. This is just the sort of ammunition that conservative reactionaries need to put women back in the kitchen and out of the workplace. Shame on Dr. Holland for pandering to popular culture and writing a piece of junk like Moody Bitches!

[♛✨Christine ♛✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't you just love that title? As a female living in a house full of women this is BOUND to be helpful! And helpful it sure was!

This is honestly such a worthwhile read for any woman out there. This novel simplifies the body, the mind and all scientific terms.

The author is an experienced person in all fields women (of course she is a woman herself). This just helps this self-help novel because she herself can relate to women.

Overall, an intriguing and informing read!

ARC kindly provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

When this audio came out, read by my favorite audiobook narrator, I told my sister, "This book can't lose." And she said, Oh, it probably can. And it did.

The first portion of the book is talking about SSRIs and other meds and how most women don't need them. I have been on Lexapro for about 7 years and have frequently talked to my doctor about going off or staying on. But she just rails and rails on how almost everyone on SSRIs don't need them.

So I decided to try going without them. THIS IS NOT HER FAULT I TAKE FULL RESPONISIBILITY FOR THIS. Well, that experiment failed and after 5 days I was anxious and edgy and hyper and I went right back on. And have talked to my doctor about this experiment , who supported it.

That said, I do think it is irresponsible to rail so hard that most women are just masking their real feelings with their meds. But that is not why I give this book two stars.

Throughout the book, she kept explaining things in ways I felt sounded like absolutes that did not reflect my experience at all.

Apparently, as a woman going through menopause on SSRIs, I should be bitchy, have no sex drive, hot flashes, and no seriously no sex drive. This does not reflect my experience at all. I am cold and horny!

So now I have pretty much agreed with nothing she said, none of it was reflecting my experience at all.

[Komal Gupta · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to read this as part of a work book club otherwise I would have put it away after 20 pages. It was pretty redundant, over simplified to a fault and seemingly supported by research that was not well cited or explained for research limitations. Being a person who is well versed in psychology and brain based behaviors, it was painful to read some of the significant gender biases in this book that seem largely influenced by anecdotal experiences instead of well represented research. It also failed to take into account within group differences making large assumptions about how men have less empathy and women are more empathetic when everyone has life examples for many exceptions to these over-generalizations. I do not recommend reading this book unless you’d like to read a psychiatrist go on a personal rant about various topics that seem largely influenced from her own personal experiences with clients and her own life with her husband.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book should be required reading for all women. However, I'm not sure this book does exactly what Dr. Julie Holland wanted it to. Let me try to explain…

Moody Bitches is a phenomenal trove of information on hormones, moods, interactions and how that all ties together. It has much information in it I did not know and hadn't read elsewhere. Many books for women don't usually go into such depth on hormones and how they effect you over your entire life cycle (from menarche, to pregnancy, to peri-menopausal, and menopause). It's fascinating and necessary reading.

But… there seemed to be two books here and Dr. Holland tried to smoosh them both together. One is on the science of hormones, and how they interact with each other, with moods and with drugs. The second is the 'rah-rah woman!' part of the book that talks about embracing your moods and your hormones and just going with the flow. On one hand this is a book about the science, and about drugs. And on the other it is about embracing your moods and your emotions, telling society to get with the program, and smoking pot (she is a fan of cannabis).

Again, I thought it was fantastic! But, I also felt that it wasn't living up to what Dr. Holland wanted to write.

She speaks of embracing your moods, because they are natural and normal and just fine. Yet on the other discusses how she herself takes certain medications, and has no problem prescribing Ambien to her patients. Which is not to say that I (and Dr. Holland) don't think if you have medical issues that need to be addressed, or depression, or what-have-you, you should not take medication for it (indeed, you should!). Her main point seems to be that we are unnecessarily medicating away the natural cycles and moods of being female, and that is the major issue.

She somewhat skirts around the issue of culture, sociology and gender norms though. And I think that is a major factor in much of this overmedication. The message is "you can have it all!", but no one has really defined 'having it all', and no one has thought through the implications of that. Holland's concern is for those women who work full-time, also deal with childcare, and also do housework (or whatever is causing stress) and then can't sleep, get moody and get depressed. Are these women dealing with clinical depression? Perhaps not. Yet, we're medicating them anyway. So, the issue is less with women and moods, and more with society, culture, unmet expectations, and the overwhelming stress that modern society places on people (women) and our conception and perception of what life needs to be.

The information in this is great, but I'm not sure the takeaway message is the one she was trying to send.

Would I recommend this? Absolutely! Would I recommend it with some qualifications: Yes.

I would actually recommend reading this with Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski. Nagoski's book is about sex and sexuality, but her discussion of how societal stressors can effect your libido and enjoyment of sex can also be drawn further out to correspond to Holland's discussion of moods and life.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

[K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book and have been thoroughly enjoying the read. Dr. Holland writes with humor, covering a multitude of issues that women face in this day & age. Granted, this copy is an advance uncorrected copy, so I shant offer any direct quotes. I will, however, recommend the finished book to all of my female friends & family.

[Ayrin Hnosko · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really, really wanted to like this book. I tried. But there are two glaring issues and flaws that I cannot get past.

First is the degree to which the writer dismisses the importance for some of pharmaceutical care for mental health concerns. The fact is that serious mental illness necessitates more than supplements and assurances that one’s emotional highs and lows are normal and will pass. This may be true for some and not for others but anyone that has actually had depression or debilitating anxiety, not just diagnosed and treated it, understands there are times where medicine is a vital piece to the mental health puzzle and that in some cases that could mean for a lifetime and it could also mean the difference between life and death in more serious cases.

Secondly, this book is extremely assuming in its heteronormative approach. Even I, a cis, heterosexual woman felt surprised and honestly offended at the lack of inclusion for different types of intimate relationships women any engage in and be impacted by/impact.

Maybe this book makes good on these issues later on. I read four chapters and just couldn’t continue.

[Kris Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stoned Bitches might be a more appropriate title. Apparently cannabis is the answer to quite a bit.

[Sweetpea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from the GoodReads First Reads giveaways in exchange for an honest review. A very comprehensive and informative book, the section on perimenopause was especially helpful to me.

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially I picked this book up because the title had me intrigued , especially the "moody bitches" and the "crazy!!! " I must admit I didn't really think it would be a particularly interesting read but it actually blew me away. So much of what was discussed was so timely for me and validated much of what I have been feeling so it really resonated with me. As a female of a certain age, going through different issues, I could really relate to much of it and I highly recommend it to other women. I think regardless of what stage in your life you are at you will find something worthwhile in this book. I even suggested that my husband read parts of it. If nothing else it leaves you with the sense that you are not alone.

[Miruna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am devorat cartea asta. Mi-a plăcut destul de mult abordarea autoarei și încercarea de a oferi explicații legate de schimbările prin care trec femeile (chimice, biologice, hormonale, etc) în fiecare etapă a vieții. Mi-a plăcut și adresarea unor elemente de bază din viața oamenilor care duc la schimbări importante: cum dormi și cât, ce mănânci și cum, cât de des te miști și cât de mult stai afară/ te vede soarele. Oricât de puerile sau stereotipe par aceste categorii, pe atât de importante sunt ele în tratarea problemelor emoționale.

În schimb, nu trebuie să dăm la o parte cu totul puterea medicației folosite în tratarea anumitor tulburări emoționale și de personalitate (episoadele maniacale, tulburările bipolare, episoadele suicidale, episoadele depresive majore, șamd). Dar medicamentele nu funcționează la potențialul maxim dacă nu sunt susținute de psihoterapie și de intervenții validate științifice. Un ritm cicardian care să meargă ,,ceas” (hihi) poate îmbunătății simptomele episoadelor manicale, dar în nici un caz nu le rezolvă.

Per total, mi-a plăcut cartea și o recomand, alături de câteva ședințe de terapie ;)

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Two stars because this book has a good drug library reference, otherwise it’s definitely a 1/5 for me. I couldn’t get passed the first section. This book has strong patriarchal sounds to it and basically blames women’s biology for them being “crazy.” No mention of societal influence really. Very heteronormative and very sexist at times - stating that men cannot be sensitive like women are and women aren’t attracted to men who take on more of a household role or that they don’t want to be breadwinners due to their “biology and hormones.” Rubbish. Also, no references or citations throughout the book, even when quoting other researchers and authors.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out nice enough with a bit of interesting information. Then she got preachy, threw a lot of crap at you, and made it seem that everyone should smoke pot. I'm not against smoking pot, but that doesn't mean that smoking it is healthiest for everyone. She became very judgmental throughout the book, which is definitely not okay. I figured since she was a doctor, she'd be less biased, but this book is full of her own biases.

[Shelby · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really tried to give this book a chance, but it was a truly disgusting attempt to justify patterns of misogyny and sexism with biology. I called it quits when I read the line, "You don't want to have sex with your husband after he does the dishes. Let's face it, sexism is just sexy."

[Lees · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually really enjoyed this book despite not being at all the target demographic. Perfect combo of almond mom advice and actual scientific explanations. Pretty solid and approachable advice! Thank you Julie Holland you're top notch.

[Brigid Schulte]

Holland has some fascinating - and disturbing research - about what medicating away our moods and emotions is doing to us. And she makes a powerful argument for embracing ourselves in all our natural and glorious imperfection. Which is a great message. The book doesn't leave much possibility, however, for men's emotions and falls into a familiar trope of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, that research shows may be more culturally cultivated than biologically innate. Read my review for The Washington Post here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinion...

[Staci Suhy · Rating 4 out of 5]

i received this book for free as part of a first reads promotion

[Maggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Can you tell I'm challenging myself to read every book I own? This was... bad.

[Ivy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best advice I got from it: What is most challenging for you is most likely what you need most.

Embrace your moods. Because being moody – feeling more deeply and express it more visibly - is a strength. I love that idea.
I’m guilty of doing exactly what the author says, like suppressing anger and apologizing for being too sensitive or just dissatisfied. Because – like most people I know – there’s the dream of being perfect.

This book shows the differences between men and women, how we work and function and how fear and sadness is declared a disease. And while it can be and medicine is often helpful and necessary, we all heard of cases where the medicine is often worse for people that this so-called disease.
I’m also very into using food as medicine. I did do my own research but this book also contains lots of helpful information regarding that.

There were somewhat lengthy parts here but I guess, that’s the parts that I couldn’t relate to. It’s also lots of things that are based on experiences with American pharma companies and how they work. While I don’t want to say that everything is better in Germany (I do think that the health-system is, though), it’s definitely different.

The whole book provides lots of interesting information, while we learn what to avoid and what effect hormones and having cycles have on us, the advice comes naturally. I’m also stunned how common issues are, how hormones affect relationships. And I love that the message is that as women, we don’t need cure for being moody, we just have to go through and learn how to deal with it – without being ashamed of emotions, without the need to pretend to perfect.

[Samantha Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally review extensively but felt compelled to with this one.

Tl;dr: Interesting explanation of hormones, their roles in different life stages, interactions and responses to Rx meds for psych/neuro issues, and how to assist those issues with lifestyle choices. Not anti-meds, but not unbiased; read with grain of salt. MUST also read "Come As You Are" by Emily Nagoski for a more thorough/accurate discussion of sexuality.

Preface: At times this book feels anti-meds. It is not. What the author dislikes is patients with very natural and understandable anxiety, depression, etc. quickly requesting and being prescribed medication (often by GPs, not psychiatrists) without a thorough evaluation for an actual disorder, and without being encouraged to attempt less chemically invasive methods first (if symptoms are mild, of course - some people cannot attempt the lifestyle changes until they are medicated). If you are sensitive to medication shame and have an actual diagnosis, please remember you are not who she is addressing when she sounds judgey about meds. If you are considering medication, please understand that psychological disorders have established criteria (for better or worse). If your doctor does not assess whether you meet those criteria but gives you a script anyway, you have been done a disservice. It's difficult to evaluate the frequency and severity of psych symptoms in 15 minutes.

Anyway, I learned a lot of interesting things about what the hell is going on inside this body of mine, and generally recommend the book, but deducted a star for the following reasons:

1) many topics and suggestions for relief were underdeveloped; I also felt she wasn't entirely right on the research on sexuality, which is why I name "Come As You Are" as required reading above (for example, many women don't have a spontaneous "libido"/sex drive in the commonly understood sense, but have a responsive sexuality and this is normal; also, blood flow, lubrication, and orgasm are involuntary and not necessarily indicative of arousal, contrary to the author's suggestion.)

2) particularly towards the end, the author veers off of medical information into social moralizing. To her chagrin, modern society has made a few evolutionary features/human inevitabilities moot. Examples:
- Don't shave pubic hair because who wants to look like a child, it protects against germs, etc.! (First, what does a personal choice about shaving have to do with prescriptions, hormones, and psychological issues? This is really off topic. Second, well, sure, but beards kept men's faces warm and are also indicative of puberty, but she's not calling for men to leave them alone. Leg hair and armpit hair are also characteristics of sexual maturity. And I have two kidneys for an evolutionary reason, but that doesn't mean I need both of them. She clearly has a body hair preference, but it is an out of left field aside that is unnecessarily condescending and could have been omitted without devaluing the book. You do you, people.)
- Don't pump your body full of fillers and silicone, choose to age gracefully! (Again - off topic and self congratulatory. This topic is more about body acceptance, which isn't the point of the book. The beginning of the book seems to encourage hormone/monthly cycle acceptance, but attributing those ideals to the rejection of botox is a non sequitur.)
- I had a natural childbirth with both children! No epidural meant my babies were born awake! (Congratulations on uneventful healthy deliveries. But again, do you recall the title of your book? Where did this subject come from (I seriously can't remember the segue)? The existence of a medical option to reduce pain does not make the choice to go unmedicated superior. No one gets Life Points for choosing to accept more pain, for using midwives instead of doctors, and women shouldn't be shamed out of a perfectly valid and safe medical decision. This is off topic superiority complex stuff again. If this particular point and other Baby Incubator Optimization topics grind your gears, you may be interested in "Expecting Better" by Emily Oster.)

3) The FDA does not agree with the author's conclusions about BPA in plastics (reviewed the studies, found levels in consumer products to be safe, but says more research is also needed). Feel free to recycle and stop purchasing plastic to save the environment, but the food you put in your plastics is more likely to sicken/kill you than the plastic itself.

4) The conclusion is less of a summary and more of a disorganized word vomit of feel good pinterest platitudes and instagram memes. Just skip it. However, you may find the information about various medications in the appendix informative, so at least skim for relevance.

All of the above complaints could have been excised from the text with no adverse effect. I suggest you read the book and indulge in a satisfying eye roll when you get to these parts, but don't avoid the book because of them. A more neutral revision would likely get 5 stars.

[Lacey Louwagie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

The main problem with this book is that it sort of misrepresents itself, and that makes it feel longer than it should be. What this book really is is something of a comprehensive review of natural aids to mind and body health for women. There is a ton of great information here, especially regarding practices that a lot of women don't really question, such as using hormonal birth control or watching TV in bed at night.

What I thought I was getting was a book about the "overmedication" of women, and that's what the first third of the book is. This is both interesting and empowering; of particular interest was the fact that hormonal birth control "turns off" women's ability to detect via pheromones whether they are really attracted to, and genetically compatible with, a man. The book then goes into a long step-by-step of all the trials and tribulations of different periods of a woman's life, getting especially cynical in the menopause and beyond chapters. All this has already been done in The Female Brain, and done a lot better.

After that, the book becomes a "Woman's Guide" to health and happiness, and here it picks up again. We see that Holland is not only suspicious of the overmedication of women, but also vehemently against other "unnatural" treatment's for one's body -- botox, plastic surgery, etc. I like her overall thesis that women should embrace their natural "moodiness" and that working with nature rather than against it is probably the healthiest way to live. However, as a psychiatrist, she's not such a hardliner that she doesn't recognize that there are situations in which medication really is the best option -- although she hates trycyclic antidepressants, one of which has been my "miracle drug" of 7 years (Nortriptyline, for migraines).

Holland's tone can come across as superior and smug at times, and she also tends to contradict herself -- going off in one chapter about how "unnatural" monogamy is, and then expounding on the desirability of a committed relationship in which to enjoy one's sexuality. She also rails on the evils of pornography (I agree), but then suggests that women who have trouble climaxing use it if it helps.

Overall, though, this is one of those books that has given me a few tips to improve my health that I didn't know about before (going outside after a rainfall because the negatively-charged ions are good for you) and reminded me of the importance of things I did know and practice with varying degrees of success (getting away from "screens" one hour before bedtime, going out in the sunshine, eating more plant-based foods.) It's worth a read, especially if you don't mind getting more than the book purports itself to be .

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the book, Moody Bitches, and had planned on recommending to my patients, until I got to pp. 270 - 271 - where the author said:

“Just as important, many of these patients had a variety of psychiatric diagnoses, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and depression.”

Numerous studies have concluded that fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome are not psychiatric disorders, nor do they receive a psychiatric diagnosis; rather they are Axis 3 diagnoses. While depression may be comorbid with these conditions, the diagnoses are in the realm of rheumatology, not psychiatry.

For more information on chronic fatigue (SEID), please explore the

IOM's Report Guide for Clinicians - Institute of Medicine

available at:

http://www.iom.edu/~/media/Files/Repo...

[Mackenzie (taleswithtank) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was conflicted about writing a review for this one as I just felt like it wasn’t my cup of tea. I was expecting more of an educational text, but Moody Bitches read more like a diary of Holland’s own experiences in this work (which is completely fair, just not what I anticipated) with selected research to support her claims. The tone of the writing and audiobook felt very off putting. While Holland praises women for getting in touch with their own bodies and knowing what’s best for them, she clearly has strong opinions about the use of various medications which felt very counterintuitive to her original message.

[Anna Roesler · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much of the information in here is presented as evidenced-based when it’s not. She should acknowledge that the majority of this book is extremely subjective and biased. For example, SSRIs during pregnancy are not associated with autism. You can’t just say something like that with no evidence or study to back it up. She also talked about how bras increase the risk of breast cancer by a significant percentage. Wow.

[Tamara · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some really interesting tidbits in this book, I especially enjoyed the beginning with info about women's cycles and various life stages. However, the survival guide at the end felt like filler and wasn't very helpful. I thought this would be more of a guide and more practical advice around people taking medications- sadly, this did not live up to the hype.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling case for allowing the natural rhythms of our female bodies to guide our days, instead of medicating (either with Rx or food or whatever) them away. Our "moodiness" (sensitivity, intuition, flexibility, adaptability) is an intrinsic and valuable part of life and a gift to our children, partners, and world.