Sunday, March 1, 2015

"Moody Bitches"

According to psychiatrist Julie Holland women are naturally moody. In her new book, Moody Bitches, Holland notes that psychiatrists have increasingly and unfortunately chosen to medicate women’s emotions.

She begins by noting a point that, for some feminists will count as heresy:

WOMEN are moody. By evolutionary design, we are hard-wired to be sensitive to our environments, empathic to our children’s needs and intuitive of our partners’ intentions. This is basic to our survival and that of our offspring. Some research suggests that women are often better at articulating their feelings than men because as the female brain develops, more capacity is reserved for language, memory, hearing and observing emotions in others.

These are observations rooted in biology, not intended to mesh with any kind of pro- or anti-feminist ideology. But they do have social implications. Women’s emotionality is a sign of health, not disease; it is a source of power. But we are under constant pressure to restrain our emotional lives. We have been taught to apologize for our tears, to suppress our anger and to fear being called hysterical.

Holland then outlines the current situation:

At least one in four women in America now takes a psychiatric medication, compared with one in seven men. Women are nearly twice as likely to receive a diagnosis of depression or anxiety disorder than men are. For many women, these drugs greatly improve their lives. But for others they aren’t necessary. The increase in prescriptions for psychiatric medications, often by doctors in other specialties, is creating a new normal, encouraging more women to seek chemical assistance. Whether a woman needs these drugs should be a medical decision, not a response to peer pressure and consumerism.

The new, medicated normal is at odds with women’s dynamic biology; brain and body chemicals are meant to be in flux. To simplify things, think of serotonin as the “it’s all good” brain chemical. Too high and you don’t care much about anything; too low and everything seems like a problem to be fixed.

Holland has objections to the overuse of SSRIs like Prozac:

The most common antidepressants, which are also used to treat anxiety, are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (S.S.R.I.s) that enhance serotonin transmission. S.S.R.I.s keep things “all good.” But too good is no good. More serotonin might lengthen your short fuse and quell your fears, but it also helps to numb you, physically and emotionally. These medicines frequently leave women less interested in sex. S.S.R.I.s tend to blunt negative feelings more than they boost positive ones. On S.S.R.I.s, you probably won’t be skipping around with a grin; it’s just that you stay more rational and less emotional. Some people on S.S.R.I.s have also reported less of many other human traits: empathy, irritation, sadness, erotic dreaming, creativity, anger, expression of their feelings, mourning and worry.

She continues:

If the serotonin levels of women are constantly, artificially high, they are at risk of losing their emotional sensitivity with its natural fluctuations, and modeling a more masculine, static hormonal balance. This emotional blunting encourages women to take on behaviors that are typically approved by men: appearing to be invulnerable, for instance, a stance that might help women move up in male-dominated businesses. Primate studies show that giving an S.S.R.I. can augment social dominance behaviors, elevating an animal’s status in the hierarchy.

Were we to ask where these ideas come from we would have to face the fact that feminists have, for decades now, insisted that gender identity is merely a social construct.

Remember the feminist who explained that in order to get raises and promotions women must lean in. Why should they do so? Because, according to Sheryl Sandberg, that’s what men do.

Sandberg may or may not be right about men. In some cases they are more assertive than women. And yet, leaning in, which feels like getting in someone’s face, is certainly not the royal road to a raise or promotion, regardless of gender.

It’s not so much that women have been implored to act like men. Too often they have been encouraged to act like caricatures of men.

Holland’s point is cogent and well-argued. I am not, evidently, qualified to agree or disagree with her judgment about whether psychiatric medication is over-prescribed, but I suspect strongly that she is right.

Perhaps she mentions it in her book, but in her Times op-ed she should have explained how contemporary feminism has contributed to the problem.

After all, many of today’s psychiatrists are women. Many of them are feminists. Even many male psychiatrists consider themselves to be feminists. I am confident that there are very few Tea Party psychiatrists currently practicing.

The feminist culture influences the way women construct their lives and the way they behave. It influences their attitude toward their feelings. It has even influenced the way the therapy culture addresses women’s feelings.

Feminists have declared gender identity to be a social construct and have actively encouraged women to follow life plans that resemble those undertaken by men.

Surely, the pharmaceutical industry and psychiatrists (more and more of whom are women) are colluding in this enterprise by overprescribing medication for women’s emotions. But if the cultural environment is contributing to the problem, we must recognize that feminism has powerfully influenced the way women see themselves and the way they understand their emotions.

Credit or debit where credit or debit is due.

2 comments:

Ares Olympus said...

A rather provocative title for a somewhat softer content.

The word bitch is more associated with anger than sadness expressed in the conclusion "We need to stop labeling our sadness and anxiety as uncomfortable symptoms, and to appreciate them as a healthy, adaptive part of our biology."

It reminds me of a medical doctor I know, past menopause now, but she confessed that she took birth control pills skipping her period all together. I didn't quite get the details, but it sounded like she was doing this for decades, before it was recommended as safe.
http://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/features/no-more-periods

I don't know how feminists could or should take all of this.

On the one hand Feminists could say "Women are different and society, including the world of employment should adapt to women's needs." And if that means they have a different productivity during certain times of the month, everyone should adjust to that.

On the other side feminists like my Doctor friend want to suppress their "natural cycles" and have the freedom to act more like a man, and not be inconvenienced by biology.

But that's a slippery slope, since it means women who don't "choose" to suppress, they are "choosing" to be moody, and therefore its their problem, and others shouldn't give them any special treatment?

And that's what the author says "If the serotonin levels of women are constantly, artificially high, they are at risk of losing their emotional sensitivity with its natural fluctuations, and modeling a more masculine, static hormonal balance. This emotional blunting encourages women to take on behaviors that are typically approved by men: appearing to be invulnerable, for instance, a stance that might help women move up in male-dominated businesses."

I'd also be interested in home life. That is to say, in the "natural" world, women who live together will tend to synch their periods together, while now with the pill, each woman can have her own cycle, so is this good or bad? Do women who are hormonally synched have more empathy for each other, or fight more or both?

I heard on Facebook my 20 year old niece has been fighting with her mom and is talking about moving out and with her new boyfriend.

Really I'm rather shocked by what young adults will post, or that her boyfriend would have any interest in living with someone who seems so publicly unstable. But of course if after 6 weeks the boyfriend kicks her out, she'll be back to her mom's "I told you so", and she'll be grateful for her mom again, unless she decides to take some antidepressives and stops getting sappy feelings that remind her how much she loves her mom?!

It all does make me think we need some "biological intervention" and drugs can be one approach, while learning self-awareness and testing strategies that help women cope with their biology seems more sensible, and perhaps like the mother-daughter bonding, a mutual learning curve of seeing their moods from the inside and outside.

And while we're considering biological factors, I've heard calls to restore Gym class to school, more for boys than girls maybe, to expend energy and help them sit still in class.

And perhaps if we acted European and scheduled afternoon naps, we wouldn't have to wire ourselves up with coffee to survive the work day.

So maybe the "male-dominated businesses" is actually not just "male" but "alpha male" minority who think everyone should act like them?

Anonymous said...

I question Male vice Female differences in meds and diagnoses.

1. Women go to doctors more. That doesn't mean male psych stability is better. It's definitely Worse.

2. Women "May" use more Prescription meds - tho I'm dubious on the stats. But men DO use lots of other mind-altering substances, legal and not.

3. Women talk about their troubles. Men hide them. Vive la difference.

4. In general, women are healthier and live longer than men.

5. Whew. Will this new battle of the sexes never end? -- Plaintively, Rich Lara