Zulresso: Hope and lingering questions
monkeybusinessimages/Thinkstock Publish date: September 10, 2019 By Lee S. Cohen, MD The last decade has brought increasing awareness of the need to effectively screen for postpartum depression, with a majority of states across the country now having some sort of formal program by which women are screened for mood disorder during the postnatal period, typically with scales such as the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS).In addition to effective screening is a pressing need for effective referral networks...
In Brief: The Complex Relationship Between Endometriosis and Depression
A meta-analysis of 24 studies, including 99,614 women, demonstrated higher levels of depression among women with endometriosis compared to unaffected controls. When researchers restricted the analysis to healthy controls, the association between endometriosis and depression was even stronger. Pain seemed to be the primary driver of the association between endometriosis and depression; in fact, rates of depression were similar between women with pelvic pain and endometriosis and women with pelvic pain but no endometriosis. Without...
Register Online MGH Conference on Women’s Mental Health – October 17, 2019
Over the last few years, we have seen an increasing number of women with substance use disorders in our clinic. We are very excited that Dr. Edwin Raffi from the Center for Women's Mental Health will speaking about treating this vulnerable population at our upcoming one day course in Women’s Mental Health in Boston on Thursday, October 17th. The treatment of this group of women is particularly challenging in that there are high rates of...
Moving Forward with Brexanolone (Zulresso): Pilot Program at the Cleveland Clinic
It has been a few months since Zulresso (brexanolone), the new FDA-approved treatment for postpartum depression, has been available. At our clinic, we have had multiple queries regarding how to obtain treatment with Zulresso. One of the challenges in rolling out Zulresso is that, because of concerns about potentially serious side effects, it can only be administered at certified healthcare facilities. We do not have a list of these facilities; however, Sage Therapeutics maintains a...
Weekly Roundup for SEPTEMBER 6, 2019: Recent Publications in Women’s Mental Health
On this week’s list, we have multiple articles on the impact of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders on the pregnancy and on the family. While we clearly see an increased interest in identifying women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, less attention has been devoted to how to deliver care to this vulnerable patient population. We continue to hear stories of women, even those with financial resources and/or excellent health insurance, who struggle to access...
Psychiatric Illness More Common in Women Undergoing Oophorectomy
Not infrequently we see women who ask about the possibility of oophorectomy (surgical removal of the ovaries) as a means of managing what appears to be a menstrually related mood disorder. While this is an option rarely pursued, it appears that women with certain psychiatric conditions are more likely to undergo bilateral oophorectomy for non-malignant reasons. According to a recent study looking at 1,653 cases of oophorectomy and 1,653 age-matched controls, researchers observed that the...