Benzodiazepine During Early Pregnancy and Risk of Miscarriage
Many women who come to our clinic with questions regarding the use of medications during pregnancy suffer from some type of anxiety disorder. Most of those women benefit from treatment with an SSRI or SNRI antidepressant; however, there are a significant number of women who either do not experience complete symptom resolution with or cannot tolerate these medications and, thus, also receive treatment with a benzodiazepine. The benzodiazepines are a class of anti-anxiety medications which...
Premenstrual Worsening of Symptoms in Women with Psychotic Disorders
Clinically we see that many women with major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder experience worsening of their symptoms prior to the onset of menses. We have less data on the impact of menstrual cycle on psychotic disorders. In a recent study, researchers analyzed a total of 19 published studies examining the impact of the menstrual cycle on symptoms in women with psychotic disorders. Evidence of illness exacerbation included psychiatric hospital admissions, changes in scores...
Increased Identification of Women with Perinatal Depression, But Still Room for Improvement
Over the last decade, public awareness of the mental health challenges women face has grown tremendously, and we can say with certainty that we have succeeded in putting this important topic firmly on the medical map. Still, the field of women’s mental health faces important challenges. How can we best serve women and the clinicians who care for them as we move forward? There continue to be significant obstacles we must tackle in terms of...
New Progestin-Only Contraceptive Approved by the FDA
The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new progestin-only oral contraceptive called Slynd. This preparation contains the novel progestin drospirenone which is one component of the oral contraceptives (OCs) YaZ and Yasmin. (These contraceptives also contain the estrogen ethinyl estradiol.) Contraceptives containing only progesterone have raised concerns with regard to their impact on mood. There is evidence that Depo-Provera may increase risk for depression, including postpartum depression. Less clear is if oral progestogen-only contraceptives...
Weekly Roundup for MAY 31, 2019: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health
Several articles on the list look at the impact of maternal depression on children’s development. While previous studies have focused on the impact of postpartum depression, O’Leary and colleagues focus on the impact of depression occurring during pregnancy (antenatal depression). Even after controlling for depressive symptoms after delivery, depression during pregnancy was associated with worse motor development at 6 months. Depression during pregnancy was also associated with lower language scores at 12 months; however, this...
In Brief: Increased Use of Cannabis During Pregnancy, But Little Data on Reproductive Safety
Despite decreasing rates of alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy, the use of cannabis use during pregnancy is on the rise. According to data collected from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the use of cannabis in pregnant women aged 18 to 44 years rose from 2.37% in 2002 to 3.85% in 2014 in the United States. Agarwal notes that 21.1% of pregnant women who used cannabis reported doing so on a daily...