Postpartum Depression: There’s An App For That
Researchers from the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine and the Postpartum Depression: Action Towards Causes and Treatment Consortium have just released a free iPhone app which new mothers can use to diagnose postpartum depression. PPD ACTTM surveys women to identify those who have had symptoms of PPD. The app also will invite certain women based on survey responses to provide DNA samples so that researchers can study the genes of those [...]
Antidepressants and Postpartum Hemorrhage: No Risk with SSRIs, Small Risk with SNRIs
Serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) antidepressants may affect platelet aggregation and thus may increase the risk of bleeding. Several studies have sought to determine if exposure to SSRI antidepressants in late pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of postpartum hemorrhage. The most recent study was a population-based cohort study including 225,973 women with a total of 322,224 pregnancies from British Columbia, Canada. Women were categorized according to whether they had late-pregnancy [...]
Therapist-Assisted, Internet-Delivered CBT for Depression in Postpartum Women
As we move toward universal screening for perinatal depression, one of our most significant challenges will be to evaluate and deliver care to the women who are identified as being depressed. It is discouraging to note that recommendations regarding screening have not necessarily resulted in increased rates of treatment in women with perinatal depression. Dr. Nancy Byatt and colleagues published an analysis of 17 studies (published between 1999 and 2014) [...]
Weekly Roundup for JULY 15 2016: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health
This week a study published by Kieviet and colleagues gives us more information on the mechanism of poor neonatal adaptation in infants prenatally exposed to SSRIs and suggests that levels of maternal psychological distress modulate this risk. Pugh and colleagues assessed the effectiveness of internet-delivered CBT for the management of perinatal depression. A Randomised Controlled Trial of Therapist-Assisted, Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Women with Maternal Depression. Pugh NE, Hadjistavropoulos [...]
![By Vera Kratochvil [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://womensmentalhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Mother_Kissing_Baby-320x202.jpg)
More Data on SAGE-547, A Novel Treatment for Severe Postpartum Depression
About a year ago, we first reported on SAGE-547 (SAGE Therapeutics), a new medication for the treatment of severe postpartum depression. SAGE-547 is a new drug, an allosteric modulator of GABAA receptors, which was initially under investigation for the treatment of refractory seizure disorders. It turns out that SAGE-547 may also be useful for the treatment of severe postpartum depression (PPD). Today Sage Therapeutics announced positive results from its Phase 2 [...]
New Research from the CWMH: Evaluating the Risk of Major Malformations in Children Prenatally Exposed to Atypical Antipsychotics
Despite the increasing use of the newer “atypical” or second-generation antipsychotic agents to treat a spectrum of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, PTSD and other anxiety disorders, we have relatively little data on the reproductive safety of these newer atypical agents. In response to this deficit, the National Pregnancy Registry for Atypical Antipsychotics was created to evaluate the safety of atypical antipsychotic medications taken by women during pregnancy. [...]