This text provides background on the history of perinatal psychiatry, and discusses future directions in the field. It clearly defines perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), which are the most common complication of pregnancy. When left untreated, PMADs are morbid and devastating for both the patient and their entire family. It reviews gold standard recommendations for the treatment of PMADs, including evidence-based psychotherapies, as well as risk-benefit analysis of psychotropic medication use in pregnancy and lactation. Additionally, common presentations of depression, anxiety, and trauma in pregnancy and postpartum women, as well as mania, psychosis, suicidal and homicidal thoughts are reviewed. Women’s Mood Disorders: A Clinician’s Guide to Perinatal Psychiatry highlights special considerations in pregnancy, including teenage pregnancies, hyperemesis gravidum, eating disorders, substance abuse disorders, as well as infertility, miscarriage and loss. The text concludes with outlining the importance of collaborative care in providing gold standard treatment of perinatal women and review documentation and legal considerations. This handbook will help educate and train future psychiatrists and OBGYNs in feeling confident and comfortable assessing and treating pregnant women who suffer from PMADs.

"As a psychotherapist and educator of future mental health practitioners, I believe this work fills an important gap in reference books for professionals who care for childbearing women. Since the volume provides invaluable neurobiological research on depression and anxiety, I recommend this work to all health and mental health professionals."--Illness, Crisis and Loss Over the past three years, pregnancy related mood disorders have become the focus of health care advocates and legislators alike with subsequent reflection in nationwide media. Statistics on the prevalence of perinatal mood disorders suggest that up to 20% of women experience diagnosable pregnancy related mood disorders. The growing recognition of these common disorders, coupled with an increasing knowledge base about the dire consequences of untreated maternal depression, has propelled this issue to the fore of national public health priorities. This increasing awareness has also resulted in recent legislative and healthcare initiatives to screen, assess, and treat such disorders. On April 13, 2006, Governor Jon S. Corzine (D -NJ) signed a law requiring all new mothers to be educated and screened for postpartum depression. This law is the first of its kind in the country, but many states and federal advocates are proposing similar laws. The motivation for states and the federal government to adopt education and screening program is high and may soon be a federal mandate. But a major barrier to successful implementation of such programs is the lack of available resources to train healthcare professionals in this specialty. This book offers a major resource for healthcare professionals, mental health professionals, and medical, nursing, psychology, and social work students who will be confronting this problem in their practices. The contributions, by renowned experts, fill a glaring gap in the knowledge professionals need in order to successfully manage maternal mental health.

This book takes a biopsychosocial and developmental approach to mood and anxiety disorders across the female life cycle.

This comprehensive reference and text synthesizes a vast body of clinically useful knowledge about women's mental health and health care. Coverage includes women's psychobiology across the life span--sex differences in neurobiology and psychopharmacology and psychiatric aspects of the reproductive cycle--as well as gender-related issues in assessment and treatment of frequently encountered psychiatric disorders. Current findings are presented on sex differences in epidemiology, risk factors, presenting symptoms, treatment options and outcomes, and more. Also addressed are mental health consultation to other medical specialties, developmental and sociocultural considerations in service delivery, and research methodology and health policy concerns.

This text provides background on the history of perinatal psychiatry, and discusses future directions in the field. It clearly defines perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), which are the most common complication of pregnancy. When left untreated, PMADs are morbid and devastating for both the patient and their entire family. It reviews gold standard recommendations for the treatment of PMADs, including evidence-based psychotherapies, as well as risk-benefit analysis of psychotropic medication use in pregnancy and lactation. Additionally, common presentations of depression, anxiety, and trauma in pregnancy and postpartum women, as well as mania, psychosis, suicidal and homicidal thoughts are reviewed. Women's Mood Disorders: A Clinician's Guide to Perinatal Psychiatry highlights special considerations in pregnancy, including teenage pregnancies, hyperemesis gravidum, eating disorders, substance abuse disorders, as well as infertility, miscarriage and loss. The text concludes with outlining the importance of collaborative care in providing gold standard treatment of perinatal women and review documentation and legal considerations. This handbook will help educate and train future psychiatrists and OBGYNs in feeling confident and comfortable assessing and treating pregnant women who suffer from PMADs.

Depression and anxiety are rampant in America. Twice as many women as men are afflicted. They suffer in silence, are misdiagnosed, or aren't even aware of their risk. Here is a bold new explanation for why women's unique brain chemistry makes them vulnerable to mood problems.and what they can do about it. Only this book details all the risk factors, including the brain's sensitivity to female hormones, life stresses, reproductive events, and a woman's genetic history. Combining more than forty years of clinical work with their own personal experiences, the authors share a self-care program that helps the brain self-stabilize to alleviate and prevent problems. They also advocate early, customized use of medication before problems become entrenched. This powerful, proven approach is a call to awareness for women who have been trying to "be strong" for too long. Both authors are sought-after speakers, known for their sensitive, no-nonsense presentations, guaranteed to fill the auditorium. They continue their work with women through the Hestia Institute, a collaborative practice they co-founded in Wellesley, Massachusetts.Depression and anxiety are rampant in America. Twice as many women as men are afflicted. They suffer in silence, are misdiagnosed, or aren't even aware of their risk. Here is a bold new explanation for why women's unique brain chemistry makes them vulnerable to mood problems.and what they can do about it. Only this book details all the risk factors, including the brain's sensitivity to female hormones, life stresses, reproductive events, and a woman's genetic history.