Louann Brizendine

Louann Brizendine M.D., is a neuropsychiatrist and the author of "The Female Brain" which was published by Morgan Road Books in 2006.

Dr. Brizendine is an expert in women's moods and hormones. Her academic credentials include completing her degree in Neurobiology at UC Berkeley, attending Yale School of Medicine and completing a residency in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Psychiatry. She is board certified in Psychiatry and Neurology and is an endowed clinical professor. She joined the faculty of UCSF Medical School at the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute in 1988 and now holds the Lynne and Marc Benioff endowed chair of psychiatry. At UCSF, Dr. Brizendine pursues active clinical, teaching, writing and research activities.

In 1994, she founded the UCSF Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic [ [http://www.ucsf.edu/brizlab/wmhcindex.html THE WOMEN'S MOOD & HORMONE CLINIC] ] and continues to serve as its director. The Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic is a psychiatric clinic designed to assess and treat women of all ages experiencing disruption of mood, energy, anxiety, sexual function and well-being due to hormonal influences on the brain. Dr. Brizendine also treats couples in the clinic.

Additionally, Brizendine teaches courses to medical students, residents and other physicians throughout the country addressing the topics of the brain effects of hormones, mood disorders, anxiety problems and sexual interest changes due to hormones.

Education

*1972-76 University of California, Berkeley: B.A., Neurobiology
*1976-81 Yale School of Medicine: M.D.
*1982-85 Harvard Medical School:Residency in Psychiatry, MMHC

Faculty appointments

*1985-88 Harvard University
*1988-07 University of California, San Francisco

Works

Books

*The Female Brain, 2006
*The Male Brain, 2008 (forthcoming)

Criticism

Academic feminists have given mixed reviews to "The Female Brain". She was given the tongue-in-cheek 2006 Becky Award, which is given to "people or organizations who have made outstanding contributions to linguistic misinformation." [ [http://www.languagehat.com/archives/002602.php 2006 BECKY AWARD] ] She was given this award in recognition of the errors in her book, "The Female Brain", including one sentence, which was removed in future printings. In this sentence of the book she contrasted how many words a woman and a man use in one day, and "It turns out that the figures Brizendine reported had been taken from a book by a self-help guru" which were shown to be incorrect. [ [http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/~nunberg/beckies.html The Language of Eve by Geoffrey Nunberg "Fresh Air" commentary, January 3, 2007] ]

References

4. "The Female Brain" 2006, 2007 (Morgan Road/Broadway Books)

External links

* [http://www.louannbrizendine.com/ Louann Brizendine website]
* "The Female Brain" reviewed by Deborah Tannen [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/18/AR2006081800429.html]