Resource: A Woman’s Guide to Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period During the COVID-19 Pandemic
As we enter into the Fall of 2020, it is clear that we will be dealing with COVID-19 into the next year. We have learned so much about the novel coronavirus over the last six months, but it is still something most of us worry about. Even in the best of times, women who are pregnant tend to worry, and being in the midst of a pandemic doesn’t help. And when [...]
Weekly Roundup for SEPTEMBER 18, 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. In a meta-analysis including nearly 200,000 mother-infant dyads, Rogers and colleagues look at the impact of perinatal depression on the child development, noting a negative impact of perinatal depression on social-emotional, cognitive, language, [...]
Perimenopausal Depression in Women with More Variable Levels of Estradiol and Lower Progesterone Levels
Women are at increased risk for depressive symptoms during the menopause transition. It has long been suspected that falling estrogen levels play a role in triggering the onset of depression; however, if all women experience declining levels of estrogen and progesterone during this transition, why is it that only some women suffer from depression in this setting? A recent study has looked at how levels of estrogen and progesterone affect risk [...]
More Data on the Neuroactive Steroid Zuranolone for Postpartum Depression
While we have heard a lot about brexanolone, marketed by Sage Therapeutics as Zulresso, for the treatment of postpartum depression, an oral version of this novel antidepressant – SAGE 217 or zuranolone – has been finishing up its Phase 3 trials. Like brexanolone, SAGE-217 is a neuroactive steroid, an analogue of allopregnanolone which is a positive allosteric modulator of the GABA-A receptor. What distinguishes SAGE-217 from brexanolone is that it has [...]
Weekly Roundup for SEPTEMBER 11, 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. In studies looking at the neurodevelopment of children exposed to antidepressants during pregnancy, it is often different to distinguish between the direct effects of antidepressant exposure and the indirect effects of residual psychiatric [...]
Mitigating psychiatric disorder relapse in pregnancy during pandemic
Dr. Lee S. Cohen, Director of the Ammon-Pinizzotto Center for Women's Mental Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, recently shared his insights on mitigating psychiatric relapse during pregnancy amidst the COVID-19 pandemic with Ob.Gyn News on August 28th, 2020 In a previous column, I addressed some of the issues that quickly arose in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and their implications for reproductive psychiatry. These issues ranged from the importance of sustaining [...]