SSRIs and Pregnancy: No Risk of Cardiovascular Malformations According to UK Study
Over the last few years, several studies have suggested an increased risk of certain types of cardiovascular malformations in children exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy. The first reports suggested a link between cardiac septal defects and exposure to paroxetine; other, but not all, studies have also shown an elevated risk of cardiac defects in children with prenatal exposure to other SSRIs. More recent studies, including a recent [...]
Positive Parental Engagement Protects Children from the Detrimental Effects of Prenatal Stress
Studies in animals and humans suggest that psychological distress experienced by mothers during pregnancy is associated with later neurodevelopmental problems in their offspring. Project Ice Storm is one such study exploring the effect of prenatal maternal stress on child cognitive functioning. In January 1998, an ice storm hit the Canadian province of Quebec and resulted in power loss for 3 million people for as long as 40 days. In June [...]
Weekly Roundup for MAY 20 2016: Publications in Reproductive Psychiatry
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and congenital heart anomalies:comparative cohort studies of women treated before and during pregnancy and their children. Petersen I, Evans SJ, Gilbert R, Marston L, Nazareth I. J Clin Psychiatry. 2016 Jan;77(1):e36-42. Factors influencing attempted and completed suicide in postnatal women: A population-based study in Taiwan. Weng SC, Chang JC, Yeh MK, Wang SM, Chen YH. Sci Rep. 2016 May 12;6:25770. Prenatal exposure to anxiolytics and hypnotics and [...]
![By Vera Kratochvil [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://womensmentalhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Mother_Kissing_Baby-320x202.jpg)
Maternal Depression and Its Effects on the Child: What is the Role of Oxytocin?
There is significant literature indicating that a mother’s depression may adversely affect her young child. Studies have demonstrated that the children of depressed mothers are more likely than the children of non-depressed mothers to exhibit developmental delays and childhood behavioral problems. It has also been demonstrated that the children of depressed mothers are more likely to present with psychiatric illness at a younger age. What is not so clear is exactly [...]
Pregnancy Brain? Or a Symptom of Depression?
During pregnancy, many women complain that they feel more distractible, more forgetful or less sharp than before pregnancy. A few years ago, we reviewed a study which demonstrated that performance on tests of spatial recognition memory (SRM) were adversely affected by pregnancy. Other aspects of executive function were unaffected. A recent study assessed working memory ( WM) in pregnant women at 34-36 weeks of gestation (n = 28) and compared [...]
Why You Shouldn’t Stop Taking Your Prenatal Vitamins
It’s only been a few days since Johns Hopkins released the preliminary results of a study on folate levels and autism, and we have already received calls and emails regarding the findings. Unfortunately the headlines in many of the news articles have been incredibly misleading. Take for instance, “A Study Asks: Too Much Folic Acid a Cause of Autism?” (Fox News). Before I discuss the details of the Johns Hopkins [...]