Atypical antipsychotics are increasingly used to treat psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.  In spite of the important role they play for many patients in treating serious psychiatric disorders, atypicals have been associated with negative side effects that may worsen a patient’s cardiovascular health profile.  This includes a greater risk for weight gain, [...]

Over the last several years, a number of studies have indicated that exposure to antidepressants near the time of delivery may be associated with poor neonatal outcomes. A recent prospective study from Dubnov-Raz and colleagues published in the journal Pediatrics found an association between QTc interval prolongation in neonates and antenatal exposure to selective serotonin [...]

We invite your comments as we post more cases and clinical scenarios to our blog.  Treatment decisions in the field of women’s mental health are often not straightforward, and we would like to encourage discussion among clinicians on these issues.  You are welcome to leave your name, but comments may also be submitted anonymously.  Please [...]

As more research is conducted within the field of women’s mental health, there are times when recommendations may change depending on the available data.   We will discuss a case here to illustrate this point. The patient is a 32 year old woman with a history of anxiety who was first evaluated by this clinician in [...]

Maguire and Mody’s report, GABAA R Plasticity during Pregnancy: Relevance to Postpartum Depression, in the July 2008, Neuron, provides evidence that an abnormal Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABAA) receptor subunit in pregnant mice may be a useful model for postpartum depression.  The report describes how GABAA receptors, specifically, the delta-subunit-containing GABA receptor, are a preferred target for [...]

Our Perinatal and Reproductive Psychiatry team often discusses clinical cases in Rounds, a confidential forum in which we can get advice and consultation from peers who also work in the area of Women’s Mental Health.  We discussed a patient’s situation recently that highlighted the controversial area about how to prevent mood episodes in a woman [...]