In Brief: Why Exercise Helps with Menopausal Hot Flashes
Some, but not all, research studies have shown that exercise training can reduce the frequency of hot flushes and can improve other non-vasomotor symptoms including depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Â Nevertheless, these studies have solely relied on subjective questionnaires as the primary outcome. Â But if exercise makes you feel hot and sweaty, how does it help to reduce hot flashes? In non-menopausal women, it has been demonstrated that exercise training can improve [...]
How Does Postpartum Anxiety Affect Infants and Young Children?
Many studies have documented the finding that exposure to maternal psychiatric illness early on in the child’s life may adversely affect the child’s cognitive, emotional and behavioral development. These early studies focused on the impact of postpartum depression.  (The effects of PPD on the child are reviewed in Goodman et al, 2011.)  However, we know far less about the impact of postpartum anxiety on the child.  The extent to which [...]
Preconception and Pregnancy Obesity Among Women with Psychiatric Disorders: An Important Risk Factor
Individuals with psychiatric disorders are at higher risk for obesity than the general population, as well as for medical comorbidity, such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and cardiovascular disease. Moreover, many medications for psychiatric disorders worsen this risk, particularly pharmacotherapy with atypical (second-generation) antipsychotic medications, used not only used for psychotic disorders, but increasingly as mood stabilizers and for treatment refractory depression and anxiety. Almost 4% of adults in the U.S. were [...]
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) Linked to Anxiety and Depression
 Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine-related dysfunction in women of reproductive age (1).  It is also the most common cause of infertility due to the absence of ovulation.  Many women are not diagnosed as having PCOS until they experience issues with infertility (2).  PCOS is considered to be a genetic disease affecting around 7% of women in this age group worldwide (3).  Women with this syndrome [...]
Improving Access to Mental Health Services: Could Lay Counselors Be Used to Treat Perinatal Depression?
About 15% of women suffer from perinatal depression -- depression which emerges during pregnancy or the postpartum period; however, most women with perinatal depression do not receive any  type of treatment.  While we have made huge strides in increasing awareness of postpartum mental health issues, there are still significant obstacles to obtaining treatment.  Especially in more remote areas, women are often not able to find appropriately trained care providers or must [...]
Weekly Roundup for JANUARY 20, 2017: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health
Happy New Year! Â We are not even three weeks into January, and it promises to be a busy year. Â At the top of the list is the study from Cantarutti and colleagues which observed that depression in itself, rather than antidepressant medication, might increase risk for preterm birth and low birth weight. There are also several articles looking at the effects of early childhood adversity in the mother and how this [...]