Several
more experiences came her way afterwards: a bout with medication to relieve her
symptoms, a car accident, and the discovery of Louise Hay's "You Can Heal
Your Life". All these episodes convinced Dr. Schulz to claim her destiny
as a trail blazing healer in mind-body medicine. By the time she entered
medical school she was also blossoming into the revolutionary field of medical
intuition. Today, Dr. Schulz lives at full force her life passion. She is a
board-certified psychiatrist who on one hand, she has a Medical Intuition
business, and in a separate practice, sees patients in Neuropsychiatry. Bio
written and interview conducted by Rheba Estante, Integrated Health Writer. Q:
There are plenty of books on women's health on the market, what is different
about yours? What does it offer that is distinct and of practical use to women?
A: The New Feminine Brain takes account for and examines how as civilization
advances the environmental changes impact the brain. As life gets more complex
with things such as satellites, cell phones, iPods, PDAs, these shape our
brain. Information changes our wiring. I call this plasticity. Women in the
year 2006 balance motherhood, career, childcare, and eldercare of aging
parents. These are more complex lives than ever in history. Multiple roles lead
to pressure and combined with technological advances in medicine have altered
the hormones in the female brain. Q: Does this mean that the brain of women in
2006 are very different than females in 1906? A: Yes. We are hormonally altered
women.
Women are deferring until 40 to have children. One Nooflex new mother in the
news recently was 60. Pregnancy and childbirth changes a brain. Think of the
kinds of pressures that women have in their lives by the time they are 40 and
compound that with later in life motherhood. If a woman has had to be on
fertility drugs, or contraceptive pills, or has lived for decades in an
environment of zeno-estrogens those all impact the brain. Q: So what is the
effect of synthetic prescription? A: Tamoxifen and other cancer drugs are
anti-estrogen. Estrogen is a mood elevator. When you save a woman's life and
then put her on Tamoxifen, within two months she frequently gets off. Studies
are inconclusive. Side effects can be depression, mood, attention problems, and
memory. The New Feminine Brain give resources to women of today on how to
navigate challenges with an understanding of how environment impacts their
brain chemistry. Q: Can you describe how The New Feminine Brain outlines these
suggestions for women on how to take an active lead in their mental health? A:
The book indicates major suggestions to pay attention to. It asks women to look
at their unique brain in four areas: moods, anxiety, attention, or memory. Our
conditions in these areas are born or acquired through trauma and medicine.
Once we know our mental roadmap we can capture the genius behind our brain
type. We can maximize our gene potential. Women should also complete the
questionnaire in the book to evaluate their brain type.
This exercise helps
elucidate their brain type and directs them to chapters to pay attention to. It
teaches women that the problems or "holes" in their style are part of
a unique genius for intuition. Q: You are open about your ADD. How can The New
Feminine Brain be of help to other women who are ADD? A: ADD and mood are an
access to intuition that can be capitalized. 15% of people have a different
style of attention. Some environments are conducive and others aren't to this
style. There are plenty of supplements and medicines to lend support for attention
boosters. The ADD that is often called a disorder is defined by what the school
teacher says about you. It is a unique form of diagnosis. So for ADD women, The
New Feminine Brain teaches you how to figure this out and work with it if you
have to be in an environment counter to your special attention style. Medicines
don't alter a lot because you are still the same person. If prescriptions
really worked on ADDers, our society wouldn't have Robin Williams because he
has severe ADD. Someone like him has learned how to hone in on what is
different with his brain and transform it into a strength in a supportive
environment. Q: Why do some ADDer succeed like Williams and others simply
underachieve? A: You can get help from the physician but keep the power within
you. You do not have to live the label. The success stories had the mind set of
"I'll take what you told me to help myself but I don't live your
prognosis". By not handing over your power to a professional is one step
since it may not necessarily be true. Another key is that the ADD successes
have a strong internal spirit so they don't listen to what doesn't make sense.
They don't let people break them. This is the resilience and temperament
factor.
The definition of attention is the ability to pay focused perception on
something free from distraction and reign in impulse. Resilience is the
capacity to regulate your emotions to go after what you want in a skilled way.
The New Feminine Brain explains more of that in the mood and anxiety chapter.
Resilient people do not care so much what other people think. Q: Does The New
Feminine Brain examine whether or not there are two breeds of women these days
caught in an evolutionary loophole? It seems like women are polarized in the
realm of relationships. Some women literally need a man and can't exist without
a male partner. Others can be annoyed with one around too long. A: I am not
really a feminist from the point-of-view of the brain. Some people have a brain
style where their happiness has to come through someone else. They can only
feel good with a strong, protective person, usually a male. A woman like this
needs close companionship to feel normal. To others this is irritating because
of their circuits of arousal make them too emotionally porous. Another strong
figure is too much information on their system. These women are compelled to do
something rather than equalize their internal emotions. So the presence of a
protective male figure is very destabilizing for their life. Consider also that
a lot of women stay in a relationship due to lack of skills, independence,
self-esteem, money, and other essentials to self-empowerment so then don't
really have a choice. They aren't free to choose. The New Feminine Brain offers
resources so women can have the freedom to understand their unique brain style,
play out merits, fix moods, and live in peace.
Whether or not this means a
partner or not. Q: A recent story here in Toronto published in The Globe and
Mail talked about a study that concluded women who were mothers were smarter
than those who weren't. What are your thoughts to that? A: The studies included
rat brains as well but saying that mothers are smarter is complicated. It's
true that taking care of something close to you can make you brighter. Old
people in nursing homes are given pets and it improves memory and cognition.
The stimulation increased flexibility of the brain. "Aunting"
behavior such as taking care of someone else's kids can sprout the same brain
pathways. It's an unfortunate statement and misses the mark to say this. That
means men are truly disadvantaged. The message to women is to have a baby and
they'll be better. Being a mother depends on what your brain is molded for.
This is what The New Feminine Brain teaches you to determine. Not every woman
is wired to be a mother and therefore, she should not have children. There are
examples in the animal kingdom. Some sheep have lambs and then ignore them and
walk away. So the sheepherder has to find a surrogate mother with a better
brain adaptive to motherhood. Q: In your own words how would you sum up what
The New Feminine Brain can do for women? A: The book teaches you to find your
unique genius, navigate the world, fix problems and maximize unique gifts. If
you have a problem in the brain it is also an access to intuition. A problem
kid is a different kid. Mothers can capitalize the strength about their brain
but also mold their brain to fit into society when need be.
Labels are
important. You can't fix it if you can't name it. BUT - you can't let it limit
or define you like a crutch or tool in the world. Q: Do you have any words of
wisdom for women who are "self-help" addicts? There is a line between
improvement and needing it to function. A: It is a form of dependency when you
have lost your internal anchor and seek answers outside. It is a pursuit of a
holy grail of happiness. Happiness is looking outside what you should know is
inside. Some are using it just to have a relationship. Peace is within. People
who need people is as old as time. The classes and workshops are a way to
create a family or go to a different kind of church. Finding companionship is
healthy and constant learning makes you senile resistant. The key is to
distinguish whether you are using self-help to grow or if it is using you to
have a life. Q: Any advice to people who are totally new to the world of
self-help when they pick up a copy of The New Feminine Brain? A: Take the
questionnaire. See chapters 1,2, 3, 4 and the sections on emotional feng shui
and mood and society. Recurring problems indicate that you are not listening to
the intuition behind the moods. Merely getting remedies is not enough. You must
understand what constant moods are all about. Q: Do you have any feminine
wisdom on how women can navigate the world of self-help with some good brain
sense? A: Buyer Beware. Get someone who has a credential in an area that is
board certified by the government. This is a mark of integrity and grounding in
that field.
It also indicates that they have a rigor to pass the hurdle. Such a
person is not a fly by night but one who has mastered an area and there is
something about a person who has structure in a discipline. This is a person
who has had to sit with a supervisor, make mistakes, get guidance, and then get
it right. A name comes with a tradition. When buying a Ford or Toyota we are
purchasing this tradition. Use the same common sense as you would when looking
for a new car. The following article will give you a broad overview of Bipolar
disorder. It is a mental illness, which is often misunderstood when observed in
people. What is Bipolar Disorder? In the past it used to be called manic
depression. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder, which shows up in extreme mood
swings. These mood swings come and go and they fluctuate between periods of
high mood 'mania' and low mood 'depression'. In between episodes the person can
seem completely well. Even though bipolar affective disorder is a mental
illness, it is more appropriately described as a neurobiological brain
disorder. Is it genetic?
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