COVID-19 Pandemic: Resources for Pregnant and Postpartum Women
When we first started to write about COVID-19 in March, it seemed like the pandemic would be a time-limited event. That was before everything shut down. Now it is fairly clear that many parts of the world will be dealing with COVID-19 for the foreseeable future and that this pandemic will continue to affect the lives of women and their families. Even in the best of times, women who are [...]
You Asked: Should Women Taking Lamotrigine (Lamictal) Use Higher Dose of Folic Acid When Planning for Pregnancy?
We have really enjoyed our weekly virtual rounds. It’s been a great opportunity to meet other perinatal psychiatrists in the community, and discussions with new people always brings up interesting clinical questions. Last week we received a question regarding the use of folic acid supplementation in women taking lamotrigine (Lamictal). The U.S. Public Health Service and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), recommend that all women of reproductive [...]
Substance Use in Pregnant Women Probably Underestimated in Current Reports
At the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (presented virtually this year), Dr. Kimberly Yonkers from the Center for Wellbeing of Women and Mothers at Yale University presented on the prevalence of substance use among pregnant women. According to data from the most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), tobacco use was reported by 11.6% of pregnant women. During pregnancy, 9.9% of women reported using alcohol [...]
Weekly Roundup for MAY 16, 2020: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health
Every week we review the most recent publications in women’s mental health, covering topics related to premenstrual symptoms, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, use of medications in pregnant and breastfeeding women, perinatal substance use, and menopausal mental health. Several articles in this collection address the challenges researchers face when attempting to study the long-term impact of prenatal antidepressant exposure on neurodevelopmental outcomes in children. Nearly a decade ago, we saw [...]
New Study Estimates the Astonishing Cost of Neglected Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders in US Mothers
A recently published article in the American Journal of Public Health has attributed a substantial financial cost to untreated perinatal mood and anxiety disorders among mothers. The study, conducted by researchers with the think tank and public policy firm Mathematica, found that the cost of untreated perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) for the 2017 birth cohort totalled $14 billion USD, with an average cost of $31,800 per mother-child pair [...]
Long-Term Outcomes of Postpartum Psychosis: What is the Risk of Recurrence?
Postpartum psychosis is the most severe form of postpartum psychiatric illness. It occurs in fewer than one out of every 1000 women after childbirth. Many women who have suffered from postpartum psychosis (PP) wonder about their long term prognosis. Will they have another psychotic episode if they have another child? Will they have another episode if they taper off their medication? Many of these questions are still unanswered, although we [...]