Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing Reviews

• In defense of victimhood...

  
  By A23059WU8ZCRL5 on 2000-05-07
  I straddle the fence between faith in allopathic (Western) medicine and a more wholistic approach. So I bought this book eagerly. I have been both intrigued and disappointed.

  I appreciate the hard scientific information: how our bodies work, how various procedures and substances affect them, the latest developments in health care. I also appreciated reading that things that I have long considered normal, like pregnancy, are indeed natural processes and not diseases or disabilities. But I didn't appreciate hearing that most medical problems are rooted in dysfunctional emotional states. While I think that there are some conditions that are amenable to a psychotherapeutic approach, I KNOW that the hideous cramps I suffered all through my young girlhood, from age 11 to about 27, were a lot more than merely a function of my ambivalence toward my burgeoning womanhood. And while this isn't my problem, the idea that an enlightened female doctor would tell an infertile woman that her infertility is caused by her own psychological state vis a vis parenthood is absolutely horrifying. As is the idea that grapefruit-sized ovarian cysts can be reduced by changing the way we regard ourselves in a patriarchal society. And the idea that most of our plumbing problems are rooted in our victimhood reverses all the gains in strength and self-confidence we've made in the past 30 years. And the less said about her friend the "medical intuitive," the better!

  I recommend this book only to women who are grounded, strong in their sense of self as non-victims, and well-versed enough in medical knowledge to winnow through the junk and glean the good medical information. For the rest, I think it could be quite damaging.
  
  

• Excellent resource for healing & curing body/mind/emotion e.

  
  By on 1999-05-23
  This is a compassionate, extremely well-written book that gets to the core of the physical and emotional issues related to every aspect of women's health. The idea here is NOT to instill self-blame for getting ill, but rather the issue is to instill self-love through understanding of our bodies and illnesses. Best of all, it's about health, not just illness.

  This is a very empowering, healing book for women that includes the hardcore clincal data & references, the stories of actual women, and the nutritional, emotional, and spiritual aspects of healing. It accomplishes all of this in clear, easy to read laymen's terms. It helps to debunk a number of misconceptions that affect our approach to health.

  This book is by and for women. This book treats women with respect and acknowledgement for what we instinctively know about our bodies and our health. Every woman should own a copy of this superb health reference source.

  Dr. Northrup's appearances on PBS specials, Oprah, and others along with her leadership at the Women to Women health care center, and her past presidency of the American Holistic Medical Association, to name just a few, provide all the credibility anyone could ask for. Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, as the name implies, is about and for WOMEN. It succeeds on every level.
  
  

• Double Edged Sword

  
  By A4MW93Q3F0SHS on 2004-03-16
  This is the first major book to look at women's health systematically from a holistic perspective. My sister, an ND, gave this to me many years ago. I have referred to it many times since I first read it and my friends always want to borrow it. It's a great reference.

  If you are looking purely for an objective scientific book on women's health then don't bother with this. There is a lot of scientific info but there's a lot of "non-science" as well. Read the lowest reviews first which fairly summarise the weaknesses of this text. I agree that this book comes across as flaky in places however it is a breakthrough work in terms of systematically exploring the integration of mind and body and the effect of this balance on health.

  While I applaud the effort to make people realise how their mental state can impact their health, the other side of that sword is that women feel they are to blame for having the "wrong state of mind" which leads to poor health.

  For instance in one story a woman became infertile because, in the author's opinion, she didn't feel her husband was the right person to have children with. If you're pragmatic you can hear this story, consider if it applies to you and discard it if it doesn't fit. But some women could develop a guilt complex over something that is upsetting on its own without the added blame.

  Ultimately, the problem with this kind of thinking is that it leads to a vicious worry cycle: you worry that you might not have the right state of mind for good health... and then you worry that your worrying risks your health further! But to ignore this altogether also poses risk. Stress does cause disease and an integrated approach to health cannot exist without considering a person's state of mind.

  Because this book provides significant medical information, the reader could be lead into taking all the author's opinions as fact. Take the opinions as just that and you will find the book enjoyable. It is informative and thought provoking.
  
  

• A Profound and Empowering Book

  
  By A318XC0O1XZ2D3 on 1999-11-22
  I am a person who reads a lot, and I learn a great deal about myself by sifting through the wisdom of writers. There have been many books over the years that have touched me deeply and positively impacted my life; of all of them, this book is probably the most personally important book I have ever read. Dr. Northrup has a lot of facts about various conditions and ailments, but her book goes FAR beyond that. Her message is that we all have the ability to be completely whole, healthy people, in every aspect of our lives, and that each of us has the power to change our own lives for the better. She talks about how emotional issues of every type can affect our physical health, and illustrates over and over again how problems in our body are actually our souls' way of teaching us how to heal and grow. The stories she tells about her own and her patients' healings are amazing; her message of hope is the most real and specific I have ever read.
  
  

• A must reading for every woman; a wholistic guide to living

  
  By A22FF2UDE62RW2 on 1999-12-04
  After seeing Christiane Northrup on PBS I immediately ordered my first copy from Amazon. This book is not to be read in one or two sittings. It should be read one chapter at a time, to digest every morsel of her expertise and knowledge. Keep this one close by, so you can pick it up on those bleak days. This book is remarkably low priced to make it affordable for everyone. It's the best gift you can give to any woman in your life. My three daughters will be getting each one at Christmas along with a weekend retreat at a lovely place that I found in Maine by the ocean. This will be my gift to them, so that they can take some time out of their very busy lives and get centered on the importance of taking care of spirit, body and soul. You can't be for others if you don't take care of yourself. You can't give what you don't have, if you push yourself beyond your limitations you get very negative, burnt out, depressed and overwhelmed. It's not easy to stay focused and centered but it is a must, if we are all going to survive in this sometimes very noisy world. Christiane Northrup, I salute you for taking the time in your busy life and giving of yourself in seeing this book published. Other books that have help me become more centered: Care of the Soul-Guide to every day by Thomas Moore and Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss.
  
  
• Women should be wiser . . .
  By A20T2VB8SP34W9 on 2001-03-21
  This book combines sound advice with utter claptrap -- a much more dangerous blend than a book of solid foolishness, as people who recognize her strong areas may not have the background to know when she's talking through her hat. The foolishness here is the old diagnoses "hysteria," dressed up with the verbiage of feminism to make it seem new. It is a toxic enough foolishness to undermine the rest of the book.

  It is exceedingly ironic that a feminist would take such a heavily Freud-influenced "blame the victim" approach to so many facets of women's illness. For generations, women had to suffer through male doctors telling them that their real physical problems were "all in their head" or indicative of mental problems. Now we have a female doctor ready to tell us that our cramps or infertility are just manifestations of our unconscious. Sad, really.

  The main flaw in Northrup's logic is that she fails to correct for normalcy. Surely *all* women have both positive feelings and fears when it comes to having children, and all young girls have ambivalence and stress about dealing with the realities of becoming a woman in our society; yet only a small fraction of these are infertile or have incapacitating menstrual problems. In any case where the doctor digs for these feelings, she will find them, and *eureka*, she has found the "real cause" of the problem. It's all in your head, dear.

  In the world this book was written in, a woman who desparately wants to have children must not really want that, or she would get it. Somehow her body is seen as flawlessly implementing her "real" feelings. Such a perfect body, that is unaffected by the oddities of genetics, environment, chance or other real-world factors, must be wonderful to have. This logic is dangerously close to the old logic that said a woman couldn't get pregnant from a "real" rape, as her horror and fear would cause her body to prevent that from happening.

  Additionally, gathering evidence from anecdotes and one's own practice and experience is notoriously poor science -- show me studies that demonstrate that these psychological issues go hand-in-hand with the physical symptoms, that it's more than coincidence and digging up normal feelings and labeling them as causes for serious problems. Show me that dealing with these supposed problems is actually a more successful treatment than a placebo.

  In short, I think women deserve more than the same old treatment that the male medical establishment has given us for so long -- treating us to diagnoses based in the doctor's own feelings and philosophy, not in serious study that respects the patient's feelings *and* intellect.
  
  

• Enormous Disappointment
  By on 2001-09-25
  A lady at the health food store recommended this book and I thought, since it was supposed to be about women's health, it might help shed some light on why I developed pre-eclampsia with my last pregnancy. The book was an enormous disappointment; instead of a book about women's health, it was just a lengthy political statement about how women need birth control and abortion in order to be "empowered."

  In skimming through the book, I came across the testimonial of how the author and her sister allowed their bodies to be mutilated (having their fallopian tubes cauterized) and how they overcame their misgivings about the procedure by scheduling their surgeries for the same day, and listening to sappy music and giving each other foot rubs. Later, they overcame their natural grief over not being able to have any more children by reflecting that the command to "go forth and multiply" doesn't apply in our time anyway, because there are too many children. Instead, the author said she and her sister would "go forth and multiply many spiritual children and give birth to ourselves." I am not kidding; this is really what she said.

  In another chapter she says that women should only "carry out" their pregnancies if they can be "emotionally available" to the baby. She asserts that prenatal and birth experiences can be remembered, and that babies who pick up on negative maternal feelings while they are still in the womb will remember this and be doomed to a life of "existential depression." To prove her point, she quotes a number of her patients who are certain their mothers never wanted to give birth to them, and this is the root of all of their later problems in life.

  When I finally got to the section on toxemia, imagine my surprise to learn that my condition was a result of feeling less attractive, less loved, and more helpless. These negative emotions manifested physically through my autonomic nervous system. No doubt if I only felt better about myself, I could avoid complications in future pregnancies.

  It would almost be funny except that there are women who are turning to this author for genuine medical advice, and what they are getting instead is mindless psycho-babble coupled with liberal politics. In my opinion it is this sort of treatment that demeans women and is a true source of oppression!
  
  

• Information poor, flawed, and disrespectful
  By A3M8IGMMSKHCMK on 2002-06-29
  An older woman gave me this book when I asked about hormonal imbalances and how to treat them. I didn't find much on what I was looking for, so read other parts of the book. As a scientist, I was turned off by the anecdotal nature of this book. A patient's story is important, yes, but if a woman contracts genital herpes because she feels bad about her relationship with her father and sleeps with many men, my bet is that she got HERPES and that is what is causing the problem, NOT her THOUGHTS about men or her relationship to them and her own body. In other words, this author seems to have a distorted sense of causual relationships in women's illness.

  I think it's true that a woman's body and it's workings are still somewhat a mystery due to lack of research (and/or prejudiced medical studies), and should be treated as different from men, but I highly doubt so many of women's medical problems are the result of "patriarchical institutions" that somehow harm women's "creative outlet" and cause these problems (with the exception of the Pill and abortion, which I address below). I would hope that there is a book out there that actually addresses what truly CAUSES fibroids, painful periods, irregularities, infertility, etc., and how to treat them. Some of these topics are already well studied, but as some readers have noted, they are not presented (well, if at all) in this book. The author says most of these problems are "caused" by damaged emotions. That's not good medical advice.

  The most troubling thing about this book is it advocates treatments and attitudes that I would argue are most certainly are a result of a patriarchical thought process - namely contraception and abortion. The mentality behind these is that women are SOLEY responsible for thier offspring with no contribution from the fathers. If men are unwilling to support children, then they will by thier non-support make it necessary for women to AVOID creating those hard to carry and raise offspring. It will be years before the problems these cause women (and their men and children) are fully realized. The pill alone is prescribed to "solve" so many of women's problems - and causes who knows how many others - and thus the opportunity to study women's problems AS THEY NATURALLY HAPPEN is lost. We're just now starting to learn that all that extra estrogen causes other problems, accumulated over a lifetime.

  It's also distressing that the author dismisses the REAL psychological problems (not to mention risks of other gynecological problems) associated with abortion (which of course will remain necessary so long as there is artificial contraception, which fails famously). For the fact that this woman talks about how much our minds are instrumental in telling us what is wrong with our body, it seems odd that she is asking us to dismiss what our minds and bodies tell us when we feel uncomfortable about having abortions, or even our tubes tied!! This is not medical advice, but a political statement that says we women are only empowered if we are allowed to hurt ourselves through these means, thus "freeing" ourselves from men. They really only empower men to leave us stranded when it's not convienient for THEM!

  For this reason and others, I recommend picking up a book on NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING, especially "The Art of Natural Family Planning" by John and Sheila Kippley. It contains a wealth of information on fertility (and infertility) and how to educate yourself on how your body and cycle works, with how to use this information to avoid or achieve pregnancy. Knowing this information is TRULY empowering because you can show your doctor any abnormalities and really be a partner in taking control of your health. It also emphasizes your relationship with your partner, which fosters respect and education between BOTH sexes. The book goes into the philosophy of NFP, and while it does have a Christian bent, it is not necessary to accept christianity to use the methods (unlike Dr. Northrup, who asks the reader to accept her myriad of beliefs and philosophies to accept the idea that so many of our problems result in energy imbalances or some other unsubstantiated idea). You can still control births without adding harmful chemicals to your body.

  In other words, keep looking if you want to find a book that fully catalogues the problems and treatments of and for women. Look for a book that does a better job dealing with causality of disease and presents real options and caveats in treatments, especially when it comes to infertility, birth control, and abortion.

  One last comment: It's true that women will be better off when men can appreciate us as different to help us treat our medical problems, but this book doesn't foster the kind of communication that would result in increased respect between the sexes. A good woman's health book should be able to be read by MEN as well, so they can learn and relate to us. If the book regards men as a roadblock to women's health or treats men as merely difficult sperm donors, they are NOT going to get much out of it, if not become antagonistic to women. And let's face it - much of our lives and relationships with men are dependent on being WITH them, not separate from them.
  
  

• Misguided Wisdom
  By on 1999-12-21
  This book does highlight some important issues in women's health care. However, as someone whose first born child was stillborn this past summer, I was extremely put off by the sections in the book that deal with pregnancy loss and infertility. The idea that miscarriages,"poor pregnancy outcomes," and infertility is the result of maternal ambivalence and communicating maternal stress (which is vaguely described in the book as emotional stress and conflicts about motherhood) is complete hogwash and harmful to those women and men who are suffering and grieving. People in these situations are already trying to come to terms with sorrowful circumstances and do not need to be told that they were to blame. Readers beware!
  
  
• For Crying Out Loud!
  By A22U4VRLF0SUYL on 2000-07-21
  I am a resonable and open minded person,but I think this book is just plain weird. "How to Heal Energy Leaks", and "How to Heal Lower-Chakra Wounding"... I realize that there is good information mixed in with this, but I just can't take it seriously. Truthfully, I quit after page 255. Elaine (a patient) is experiencing long term pain. She suddenly experiences an in utero memory of feeling her father's penis poking her through her mother's uterus. Elaine is sure she experienced her mother's disgust and indifference during sex and was victimized by it, thus causing all of her problems. Come on,that's just too much!
  
  
• Our Bodies; Ourselves is better!
  By on 2000-03-11
  A friend gave me this book shortly after I was diagnosed with endometriosis, thinking it would be helpful. She was mistaken.

  Dr Northrup apparantly thinks that my endometriosis results from my difficulty in accepting/understanding my role as a woman, or some unprocessed sexual abuse, or some other new-age, victim-mentality psychobabble.

  Little actual, relevent medical information appears in this book. Some of the herbal and natural remedies are useful, but this is *not* a good reference if you have any condition more serious than premenstrual bloating.

  For years, I was told that the extreme misery I suffered (due to my endo) was in my head. I find it very hurtful that a self-identified feminist physician would perpetuate a variation of that myth.

  Buy "Our Bodies; Ourselves" by the Boston Women's Health Collective instead.
  
  

• Unwise Dietary Advice
  By A3CK5N8LD9IUYV on 2002-06-27
  Originally published in 1994, this book was among the first of many that proposed complementary or alternative therapies for women's diseases. In particular, Dr. Northrup promotes a body-mind connection to gynecological dysfunction and claims that many female problems can be linked to sexual abuse and trauma. Sympathy for the female sex-misunderstood and manipulated by male physicians and subtly coerced into stressful dieting patterns in order to conform to unrealistic standards of female beauty-oozes from every page. Naturally the reader will want to follow the dietary advice of a doctor who professes so much understanding of women's problems.

  Unfortunately, Dr. Northrup's dietary advice is dangerous in the extreme-namely a macrobiotic diet based on vegetables, grains and soyfoods. According to Northrup, this deficient diet "promotes inward spiritual attunement while eating red meat produces more aggressive tendencies." Northrup repeats the falsehood that meat and milk are too high in protein "and the process of protein metabolism creates a slightly acidic condition in the blood. . . since the average American diet is too high in protein, all of us, not just menopausal women, are in danger of developing osteoporosis."

  For Northrup, dairy fats are especially taboo. They contribute to everything that ails us-cancer, heart disease, varicose veins, gallstones, constipation, osteoporosis, heavy menstrual bleeding, fibroids, weight gain, depression and PMS-she warns. Nevermind that these conditions have increased as American women have abandoned dairy fats for vegetable oils.

  And while acknowledging that sugar may be harmful in large amounts, Dr. Northrup says it's fine to indulge in the sugary foods we crave. Plant foods will supply all the nutrients we need, she assures her readers, but a number of supplements are recommended, just in case.

  Dr. Northrup had the great good luck to grow up in a family that lived on a farm. Her father raised organic beef and knew about the work of Weston Price. But the lessons of Price seem to be lost on Dr. Northrup, who seems to know nothing about the importance of fat-soluble vitamins present in dairy fats. In interviews, Dr. Northrup mentions the fact that she consumed high amounts of dairy products during her growing years, including ice cream (rich in butterfat) every night, a diet that allowed her to grow into a healthy, high-functioning individual still in possession of her uterus. But her readers are told that dairy foods are bad news, bad for growing children and bad for adult women.

  In the second edition of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, published in 1998 and again in 2002, Dr. Northrup makes no mention of macrobiotics. Although she still pegs dairy foods as the villain in the American diet, she admits that women actually do need some animal protein and fat in their diets.

  Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom swept Dr. Northrup into nationwide acclaim. She appeared twice on the Oprah Winfrey show and was the subject of a special report on National Public Radio. Her influence has been enormous-and baleful. Many copycat books on women's diseases repeat her dietary advice, sometimes verbatim. The consensus diet that has emerged is anything but wise--low in fat, stingy on animal foods, deficient in calcium and high in mineral-blocking whole grains and thyroid-depressing soy foods. This unnatural diet has probably ushered thousands of women onto the operating table for the hysterectomies they were trying to avoid.
  
  

• We Are Not A Disease
  By A2DYCJ0XDTAF6N on 1999-11-27
  Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom is a thorough, informative, creatively written guide for health for any woman. It presents the unfortunately revolutionary notion that menopause in a healthy and natural milestone in our lives rather than the abnormality that it has been labeled by MALE physicians. Dr. Northrup helps us to value our bodies and our selves as worthy human beings without labeling us as various "women's" disorders. I vehemently reccommend this book to all women from 1 to 100. Thank you, Dr. Northrup.
  
  
• appeared promising, but disappointing
  By on 2000-08-08
  As a feminist scholar, I was excited to read this book, especially given that it appeared to have a strong focus on holistic women's health. However, I just could not get myself to continue after she seriously introduced the idea of chakras and energy field/forces. How disappointing to see a medical doctor wander off into an completely unproven and pseudoscientific realm. Discussions of women's health and a holistic approach do not mean uncritically accepting any "spiritual" claims. If these therapies do work, they can probably be explained through promoting psychological wellbeing, or through the placebo effect(which is not necesarily a bad thing if it helps a person feel better). However, given her uncritical acceptance of what is a marginal philosophy at best, I could not trust any of the other information presented. I didn't know if the medical information had been researched/validated at all, or if it merely "sounded good."
  
  
• new age garbage
  By on 2000-01-24
  Thank heavens at least a few people figured out what this book really was - not a feminist book, but a bunch of blaming nonsense. If you think the section on infertility was bad, try on the notion that abuse survivors aren't hurt by the abuse "until they interpret it as having hurt them".

  What a bunch of nonsense. This book didn't make me feel empowered, just digusted and shocked. The tone was more hateful and condescending than anything. I realize it might be comforting to believe that we can just will all our problems away with our minds; I'm not surprised people rave about this book. It does, however, have a dangerous blaming downside. I quite enjoyed throwing it against the wall. Too bad, though, since when I tried to sell it to used bookstores, they wouldn't take it. Makes sense, since the thing isn't fit for lining your cat box.
  
  

• Avoid if you're researching infertility
  By on 2000-10-03
  If you are dealing with infertility, do *not* buy this book. The opening line of the section on infertility basically says if you can't get pregnant then, deep down, you probably don't want to get pregnant.

  Hello? This is awful, painful advice for someone who's been trying for years to have a child.

  I threw the book away -- this section undermined any confidence I might have in the rest of the book.

  I can't even watch this woman on PBS anymore.
  
  

• THE BEST reference book for women's health
  By on 1997-01-05
  I read this book a year ago, and because of Dr. Northrup's candid and holistic way of defining women's health problems and causes, I was able to deal with a cyst on my ovary without falling apart, and without losing my ovary. We women sometimes forget to acknowledge the damage "stuffing" our emotions can do to our bodies. Dr. Northrup and Carolyn Myss are wonderful, intuitive women who have literally saved my life. I love this book so much that I bought a copy for my best friend and my two sisters; I think every woman should have a copy!! I have also attended a seminar where Dr. Northrup entertained and educated the packed auditorium. Her expert knowledge combined with her refreshing humor relating lots of what is in her book(s) and some new things as well, was worth every penny I paid and every mile I drove to hear her. In addition, Dr. Northrup publishes a monthly newsletter which is well worth the $69 subscription. I learn many things every month and anxiously await its arrival in the mail. For those interested, her office in Maine also has an 800 number for providing referrals to health care professionals with the same holistic approach to women's health (most of us know it isn't easy to locate doctors like Dr. Northrup). Read the book -- it'll be the best money you every spent on yourself!! (Dianne Garrett, dgarrett1@voyager.net
  
  
• I was disappointed
  By on 2000-02-26
  Yes, I'm count myself as a feminist. Yes, I believe there is a strong connection between our minds and our health. No, I'm not a prude (many years ago,in my freshman speech class in college I addressed the class on the "menstrual taboo"). I feel I have an open mind, but really, many of the ideas presented in this book were just too much. I was looking for helpful information on what to expect from my middle aged female body. I didn't find it in this book.
  
  
• Read with a certain amount of skepticism
  By on 2000-10-20
  First of all, Dr. Northrup does a splendid job dealing with many topics beyond the traditional medical model viewpoint with which we Westerners have grown up. Her personal anecdotes also lend the book a great deal of charm. However, at times I felt some of her explanations were a bit too facile, especially her chapter on infertility. As an infertile woman myself, I might have taken her advice to heart and browbeaten myself over what she insists are my dependent personality, ambivalence about motherhood or poor relationship with my husband (common denominators of infertile women, she claims, but not really applicable to me). Instead I got a medical workup and found the *real* cause of my miscarriages: a uterine septum. I'm quite sure my mindset had nothing to do with causing that. As I said, she does a splendid job, but leaves a few things lacking.
  
  
• A blessing to women who wish to heal
  By A249II6VGVRLM8 on 2005-01-27
  >> In Brief <<
  Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (WBWW) is, in my experience, a truly revolutionary book for women of all ages. It's also a great read for men that have an authentic interest in the well-being of women.
  I've been recommending this book to women I care about for some years now, and the feedback is always massively positive.
  
  >> More detail <<
  I first found an old copy of this book at a house I stayed at in England. I flicked through it and read a few parts in detail. My impression in that short time? "Gosh... What an amazing book... every women with a genuine interest in their well-being has to read this!
  When I returned home (New Zealand) I bought WBWW and read it more thoroughly. In my experience, Dr Northrup brings forth a beautiful and deeply valuable blend of modern medical knowledge as an experienced Doctor, and very insightful knowledge of how human health is a product of our internal (mental/emotional) relationship to life. She obviously has a lot of experience in the field of health and healing from both traditional and alternative perspectives. For me, this has given the subject matter of WBWW a very grounded, pragmatic, and useful place to work from. It's not a book of theory on "new age health". Rather I can see that Northrup has distilled this knowledge through real-life experience with patients and also with her own journey into true health and healing.
  
  >> What will it do for you? <<
  For me (as a male, a healer, and a health consultant that has worked with women's health issues for many years) I can see that this book will give to those women who read it with an open-mind a very empowering perspective on their health, their body, their innate feminine wisdom, and their capacity to be beautiful, empowered, healthy women. It's the sort of book that has the potential to restore a significant perspective that our society of men and women have lost. A perspective and a quality of knowing and self-connection that is so essential to experiencing true health and happiness.
  
  I know that those female friends of mine who have read this book have found it to be an incredibly empowering experience. I feel that regaining your power as a person (and in this case as a women) is vital to having a healthy, creative, life-giving experience of who and what you are. Dr Northrup has obviously spent many years helping women do just that.
  
  To women I meet in person who are interested in their health, and those utilising my health programmes, I always say this book is a must read. Hence I must make the same recommendation here in this review.
  
  >> Not for everyone <<
  It's apparent from a number of the reviews here on Amazon that some women found this book quite shocking and hard to handle.
  I had actually never considered that WBWW would evoke such a strong negative reaction. Yet I can certainly appreciate where they are coming from.
  
  So I wish to add to this review that those who are currently closed to the more subtle and less "main-stream" elements of health and healing may find this book challenging and a bit much to accept. I do not recommend you buy and read this book if you are not at least open to the possibility that we each (men and women) create our health from within. You don't have to understand HOW that takes place (reading this book will help you with that), but at least being open to it is probably important if you wish to receive the many gems and insights in the pages of WBWW. If you strongly adhere to the Newtonian model of the body as a machine then this book is NOT FOR YOU.
  
  If, on the other hand, you intuitively feel and know that there must be more to health and healing (and woman's wisdom) than what society (with it's entirely "disease management" based approach to health) has tried to feed you all your life, then please let the information in the subject matter of WBWW gently sink into your heart and mind... I know you will not regret it.
  
  This book is NOT the be-all-and-end-of of books on health. What book would be? But in the context of what the author has set out to achieve, namely helping women with "Creating physical and emotional health and healing" WBWW is a beautiful journey to be explored in one form or another by all women seeking health.
  
  I wish you all the best of health,
  
  Jonathan Evatt
  
  
• a thorough look at womens health care
  By AYIHIIOO7Z6P0 on 2000-07-03
  This book is both a reference guide and a very readable series of essays about womens' health care. Dr. Northrup begins the book by looking at the feminine "energy body" and chakra system, thus placing the book squarely in the camp of "mind-body medicine" from the very beginning. However, throughout the rest of the book she very skillfully blends the complementary outlook with allopathic medicine, in a way which is very reasonable and helpful. She definitely comes across as someone who has had rigorous medical training, both in school and later on her own as a very observant practitioner. One of the things I found most helpful about this book was the way she linked womens' emotional states with physical illnesses. For instance, womens' chronic low self-esteem and resulting depression have measurable physical repercussions. What I did not find so helpful was her description of our patriarchal system as "addictive." I personally think the terms "addiction" and "addictive" are way overused right now in our culture, and I did not understand the connection between patriarchy and addiction. However, I found so much in this book that empowered me to accept myself as I am, rather than how the larger culture wants me to look and be, that I strongly recommend the book to others.
  
  
• What an inspiration!
  By A4HMV1OZ6UW7T on 1999-11-26
  Dr. Northrup is a wise and compassionate master of the healing arts, simply put. She's a wonderful role-model for me, professionally, since we share the same career field. But more importantly, her books and tapes, her words, her "knowing" has inspired me to further my own studies beyond that of conventional medicine, to seek to be a true "healer" as well.

  Every woman should read this book, not only for the practical and sound medical advice it provides, but for the truth that resonates throughout it's pages. Our Bodies ARE our Wisdom and Dr. Northrup articulates this eloquently and humbly. Highly recommended.
  
  

• Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom
  By on 2000-02-12
  I thought this was absolutely the best book on women's health. I am not sure why some women were so vehement in their dislike of it because I found it to give women more power. The medical culture in this country believes that they know more about our bodies than we do. I can't count the number of friends that have had a doctor tell them "oh, that's normal" when they complain of aches and pains only to later find out they had cysts or tumors or other medical problems. So many (not all) doctors brush off women's pain a.) because they are men and have never had any female experiences b.) many believe women are hypochondriacs or hysterical. I have a great OB-GYN but I would never completely turn ove rmy health to someone else. I've had too many docs tell me too many different things so I figured I'd try to educate myself so I can be informed when I walk into a doc's office. Luckily I don't have to go as much anymore. This book is so great - at least 5 of my friends read it and everyone loved it as much as I did.
  
  
• what a bunch of nonsense
  By on 2000-02-16
  I certainly believe that there is a connection between the mind and body with respect to health, but some of the stuff in this book is just absurd. I found Dr. Northrup's program on PBS to be very interesting, but in her book, she seems to take any notion that she's found somewhere and considers it to be true without question. I have no doubt that some women find the ideas in this book to be helpful, but I am too much of a skeptic to find this book anything but annoying.
  
  
• I was taken aback!
  By on 1998-07-15
  Parts of this book were wonderful, however, I cannot recommend it for infertile women. I am not infertile because "deep down I know my husband is the wrong man to get pregnant with." I am infertile because I have a diagnosed medical condition which makes all my pregnancies ectopic. I believe in the mind/body connection, but this is pushing it. If women miscarry because they are ambiguous or unsure of motherhood, how does the author explain all the emotionally distraught, pregnant teenagers who have healthy babies? I don't think this book is a positive source of information for infertile women.
  
  
• Unscientific and insulting to female intelligence
  By on 2003-09-22
  If you are an intelligent, discerning woman, this is not the book for you. If you believe that psychic pain and repressed memories are factors that contribute to current medical problems and that anecdotal evidence is on equal footing with empirical, reproducible results, then it is a book for you. I simply can't believe that this woman is an MD. She is irresponsible is giving primacy to "the relationship" with your ovaries and uterus over solid medical advice. My "inner guidance" tells me to put this book in the trash.
  
  
• I thought we were beyond the "It's all in your head" phase.
  By on 1999-07-17
  Please, please stop telling women that their problems are all in their head. Infertile women especially do NOT need to hear that their problems are caused by their own doubts. Women who suffered miscarriages used to be told that the loss resulted from their own fears of motherhood, and teenagers w/cramps were told for years that their problems were psychosomatic, and were left to suffer and feel inadequate. This book and its premise are another version of this anti-feminist image of women as hysterical hypochondriacs.
  
  
• WOMENS BODIES WOMENS WISDOM
  By on 2000-08-13
  I found some of the information in this book helpful, but my concern is that this book says that several health problems women have are from deep past hurt. Women can have health problems just from simple illness. I recent the fact that there has to a "deep problem "to have a illness occur- especially with the functioning of women's bodies
  
  
• quack
  By A34DXLRKRLOE6C on 2002-11-11
  What a disappointment, its only use is to lit the fireplace!
  The writer dares to use research of the 50s to tell women who had miscarriages that they really didn't want a baby. What does the US ethical board for MDs say of this?
  
  
• Self-Help That Makes You Miserable
  By A1RN5Q2NPT6ISB on 2005-03-17
  Christiane Northrop embraces the idea that sickness has its roots in emotional causes: cysts, tumors, cancer, PMS, etc. according to her, may be the manifestations of anger, ambivalence, lonliness, etc. The problem with this sort of ideaology, is that it negates a whole body of scientific data which would suggest otherwise, and puts the onus of illness and recovery SOLELY on the patient.
  Our environment is polluted beyond anything our ancestors could have imagined. THIS is causing illness. Our modern lifestyles, sitting in traffic, taxes, etc. cause STRESS. Our hospitals are loaded with children battling cancer. Cancer rates in children are up 500-percent since the 1960's. What is her explanation for that - are these children subconsciously creating their own miseries? What an appalling thought.
  Obviously, we need to eat well and exercise and have joy in our lives. But this will not prevent us from dying! We all die from something - it's the inevitable consequence of being a living creature on this planet. It might be cancer, it might be a heart attack, it might be a drunk driver, who knows?
  
  Most annoying is her assertion that PMS is basically unfulfillment and anger that surfaces once a month. Women are supposed to root out the "real" cause of their suffering. At the same time, she acknowleges that a woman's progesterone plummets just before her period - which many doctors, including the pioneer of PMS (Dalton) have identified as the leading cause of premenstrual depression and irritability.
  I could go on and on. This book made me feel very disheartened and anxious. Too much naval-gazing is a bad thing: maybe we have too much time on our hands. While millions starve to death, we're supposed to make friends with our mitochondrial DNA. It's enough to make you pass out.
  
  

• The Wisdom of Menopause: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing During the Change, 2nd Edition
• Mother-Daughter Wisdom: Understanding the Crucial Link Between Mothers, Daughters, and Health
• The Wisdom of Menopause Journal: Your Guide to Creating Vibrant Health and Happiness in the Second Half of Your Life
• You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty
• Intuitive Listening 6-CD: How Intuition Talks Through Your Body