Rating: 
Summary: This book very possibly save my life!
Review: I was expecting more information on menstruation and general mood alterations, with maybe a glance at more serious issues, but this book is actually much more about mood disorders, and revolves mostly around pregnancy.
I've little experience with depression, and unfortunately had the opinion that it was something you just worked through, and that you took medication only if you couldn't find the strength or if it was extremely severe. This book was a great way to educate myself on how it isn't like that at all, but that sometimes medication is needed, and that you don't have to hold it in and just struggle through all the time. It's not just about medication, which the authors are more comfortable with than I, but about realizing, aknowledging and taking direct steps towards feeling well.
I especially appreciate reading this now, early in my life,before any pregnancies. i feel lucky to have found this book. Not to blame physicians, but if they aren't informed, they may misdiagnose. i think it's great to have already read up on the subject before meeting with them, so that YOU have knowledge that could help both of you to help you.I am highly recommending this book to friends. I read with wariness, considerng the pro-medication stance of the authors, but still found much of value in this book, by making me aware of possibilities i never would have thought of before. but i'm pretty new to the subject, perhaps more informed readers would disagree.
Rating: 
Summary: Did not make me feel better, only worse
Review: I'm not sure if this book is good or not. I found no hope in their plan of treating depression. The NURSE protocol is something I have been doing for 6 years, except for the drugs. Reading this book, though it may not have been their intent, has left me feeling like it's too late for me, that I will have to live with this depression and anxiety for the rest of my life. While I have never had any illusions about it, to have it put in those terms gives me more grief than relief. I did not find any hope or peace from this book. Too bad, because it feels like the idea does work for some women. I wish they had some more hope. That is not their fault, but the way they presented it in the book was deflating to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Cohesive theorization practically applied.
Review: The authors bring together information from a wide variety of sources, most of which I've seen elsewhere before, and present it in a new schema. For example, the bit about serotonin and estrogen is not news, but completing the logical chain of thought and applying the research to PMS and birth control pills makes incredible good sense. As for those who find themselves depressed by the authors' note that depression and other mood disorders are recurrent throughout life, and that one needs to watch for them - this is not news either. Mainstream psychiatry clearly state that mood disorders recurr, and the chances of recurrence go up each time an occurence happens - the authors are once again simply reiterating old news in a new argument. However, this is an excellent introductory book to those confused about their hormone system. Chapter three, dealing with the connection between the endocrine system and the nervous system was particularly clear and well written.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource for women
Review: The authors provide a much needed and welcome perspective to an area of women's health, too often ignored. They describe the complex interconnectedness of a woman's neurochemistry and reproductive biochemistry. This information was particularly helpful in researching and writing my own book, "Menopause before 40: Coping with Premature Ovarian Failure".
Deborah and Jeanne are cautious supporters of HRT. They provide details on the negative and positive consequences of hormone augmentation.
With their passion and obvious desire to understand and help women they have done an excellent chronicling of available research on hormones and brain function, and emotional and mental health. They attempt to answer many questions and propose additional questions that we do not yet have answers to.
From this book, women can learn to understand and appreciate our wonderful hormonal tapestry and learn how we can promote our own optimum health. KARIN BANERD, author: Menopause before 40: Coping with Premature Ovarian Failure.
Rating:
Summary: Irresponsible
Review: These doctors know a lot about this disorder, but as psychiatrists, their only solution is drugs. My sister had this book, took drugs and took her own life. Psychiatrists give drugs and electroshock. That is what they are trained to do. These women admit that hormones are the cause of PPD, yet discredit it as a treatment. Of course they discredit an alternative to drugs, they'd be out of a job. I recommend Katharina Dalton's "Depression after Childbirth."
Rating:
Summary: Must read!
Review: This book is especially a must read for women interested in understanding the physiology behind our emotions. The "mysteries" of our female bodies are clearly explained here, with compassion and understanding. Suddenly, I understand so much more about my physical and emotional well-being.
Rating:
Summary: couldn't put it down
Review: This book made me laugh and cry, I finally had nonjudgemental answers that explained the fierce mood swings I've had since my teens. The authors helped me pull together my life influences; childhood experiences, environmental and genetic factors, to find validation that yes, there is a solid reason for moodiness and at the root of it is hormones. While there is genetic predisposition to mood disorders this book also shed some light on the various hormonal and environmental factors that can influence womens' moods. THe book also gave some helpful answers about what to expect as we age and what to do to ease the discomfort of variable emotions as well as how our families can help and understand. I too, have recommended it to all my women friends.
Rating:
Summary: So *THAT'S* What's Going On!
Review: This book was helpful during my own bout with post-partum depression. It de-stigmatizes the condition, puts it in simple language, and offers positive, proactive tips for managing depression. It also offers worksheets for tracking your emotional heath to spott any "hot-spots". Additionally, it is the first and only book I've read that correlates these medical conditions with a woman's reproductive cycle. An excellent find for any woman grappling with PMS, post-partum depression, menopause, or anyone who just wants to understand the female experience better. It should be required reading for every women's study class! The only downside is that the authors tend to do a lot of bashing of the medical profession for not "getting" this connection between women's emotional & reproductive health sooner. Yeah, that may be so, but they didn't, so thus this book...move on. That's an issue totally outside of the reader's perspective or control & isn't why the reader chose to pick this book to begin with!
Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading for Women and anyone who loves them
Review: This book was recommended to me by a therapist who works with postpartum women experiencing depression. It is a gift to anyone who has suffered mood swings, depression, crying fits, or irrational anger and wondered why. No, it isn't excuses, it's explanations that make sense and help to alleviate the guilt and shame that come with such feelings. It is written in an accessible style for what is essentially a medical/psychological text. I intend to give it to all of my women friends, and even a few men I know who've suffered with depression. Recommended reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: We really need a good book on the relationship of women's hormones to women's moods. Unfortunately, this is not it. This book, written by a psychiatrist and a nurse, relies almost entirely on case histories to make its points, with almost no examination of the scientific basis for its conclusions. So the reader may come away believing that science well understands the role of hormones in mental illness and has figured out the causes of depression, which an examination of the actual literature shows is very far from the case. Many of the authors' explanations of the origins of mental illnesses like depression are current theories that depend on a few. not particularly well controlled. studies, not well established fact. If you'd like to believe that Prozac and its cousins are the cure for any and all of women's emotional problems, you'll find reinforcement here. In almost every case history the authors present, the sequence is: patient has mental problems, patient reveals earlier history of trauma, patient takes Prozac, patient feels fine. The authors propound the currently fashionable medical philosophy--based largely on studies funded by the drug companies that produce SSRI drugs like Prozac--that depression and other mental illnesses, once experienced, are lifetime diseases that should be treated with permanent (and expensive) drug therapy. The phamacological approach may be useful for the small percentage of the population that has serious mental problems, and this book may be useful to them and their families. But like so much current psychiatric writing (and drug company advertising), this book medicalizes a good 80% of ALL women, claiming that if you lose weight, gain weight, feel listless, feel energetic, feel sad, feel bouyant, have trouble with relationships, or have any number of other common symptoms, you are deluding yourself that you are healthy and should seriously consider treating your lifelong disease--what the authors call "brain failure." The sketchy non-drug strategy included in the book depends heavily on diet and exercise. Unfortunately, the diet advice is seriously flawed. The authors recommend the low fat, high carbohydrate diet that causes mood swings and hypoglycemic sugar binging in many women, particularly at menopause, which current research is starting to show may actually cause hyperinsulemia and resultant heart disease in many women. There is no mention in the discussion of hormones of the very important interaction of insulin and female hormones which explains a lot of PMS food cravings and mood swings. Finally, the discussion of menopause is extremely brief and does not begin to address the issue of how natural menopausal changes and HRT affect mood. This book is probably only of use to people with clearly diagnosed psychiatric diseases like bipolar disorder and serious postpartum depression/psychosis who need information on how to take their drugs in conjunction with pregnancy and the menstrual cycle. For those of us who get along okay but would like a better understanding of our moods and how hormones affect them, and who don't want to enrich the legal drug pushers, this book is a waste of time.
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