Weekly Roundup for APRIL 14, 2017: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health
The first article on the list from Andrade is an excellent discussion of the difficulties in assessing outcomes in studies of antidepressants during pregnancy. In addition, there are two articles, one from Vigod and colleagues and a review from Anderson et al, which address the issue of perinatal depression in migrant women. Offspring Outcomes in Studies of Antidepressant-Treated Pregnancies Depend on the Choice of Control Group. Andrade C. J [...]
In Brief: PTSD in Women Comes With Cognitive Impairment
While we know that PTSD is about twice as common in women as men, most PTSD research has focused on PTSD in men, most commonly male veterans. A recent study, reviewed in Medscape, evaluated data from 14,029 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study II. Lifetime trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms were assessed in 2008, and cognitive function was assessed six to eight years later, when the average age of [...]
In Brief: Traumatic Events in Childhood and Adolescence Increase Risk for Perimenopausal Depression
Previous studies have indicated that depression during the perimenopausal transition is associated with various risk factors, including previous history of depression, poor physical health, and more severe perimenopausal symptoms. A recent study (reviewed here) indicates that women who experienced multiple traumatic events during childhood or adolescence are more likely to experience depression during the transition into menopause. In particular, women who experienced their first traumatic event in their teens are [...]
Weekly Roundup for APRIL 7, 2017: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health
Lots of good reviews on the list this week: Postpartum OCD (Roussos-Ross and Nguyen), Role of Reproductive Steroids in Mood and Behavior (Schiller et al), Efficacy of Interventions Treating Mood and Anxiety Disorders During Pregnancy (van Ravesteyn et al), Efficacy of Chinese Herbal Medicines for Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (Li et al), Perinatal Depression in the Military (Klaman and Turner), and the Effects of Paternal Perinatal Depression on the [...]
In Brief: Maybe Breastfeeding Doesn’t Boost IQ
Over the years, various studies have demonstrated the many advantages of breastfeeding, findings that have led the American Academy of Pediatrics to recommend that all mothers breastfeed their children for the first year of the child’s life. Several studies have also examined the relationship between breastfeeding and intellectual development in younger children and have demonstrated better cognitive functioning in children who were breastfed. The extent to which breastfeeding during infancy has [...]
Perinatal Depression in Fathers: Who is At Greatest Risk?
While perinatal depression is typically considered to be a woman’s illness, a number of studies have suggested that, although men do not experience any of the dramatic physiologic or hormonal changes that go along with pregnancy and the postpartum period, new fathers may also experience perinatal depression. In a cohort study of 3523 new fathers from New Zealand, 2.3% of the men experienced antenatal depressive symptoms, scoring higher than 12 on [...]