Auto-Caesarean Section: A Review of 22 Cases
An auto-Caesarean sections is a type of self-surgery in which a woman attempts to perform a Caesarean section on herself. Â Not only is this practice very rare, but also the cases in which it does [...]
Maternal Bipolar Disorder Not a Predictor of Infant Developmental Deficits at One Year of Age
 While some women with bipolar disorder elect to discontinue their psychotropic medications during pregnancy to mitigate fetal exposure, Viguera and colleagues (2000, 2007) found that women stabilized on lithium face a significant risk for [...]
Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy Associated with Psychiatric Illness in Offspring
 In the United States, the prevalence of smoking in pregnant women has declined; however, according to data gathered from 29 states by the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), about 13% of women smoked [...]
New Study at the CWMH: Course of ADHD During Pregnancy and the Postpartum
 About 1.4 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with ADHD, and about 60-80% of children diagnosed with ADHD will need to take their medication into adulthood. When girls diagnosed in childhood become [...]
Announcing the MGH Perinatal Depression Scale at the App Store
We are very pleased to announce the release of the MGH Perinatal Depression Scale available free of charge on the App Store (https://appsto.re/us/-3X4jb.i). The MGHPDS smartphone app includes digital versions of perinatal depression screening tools [...]
Is Psychiatric Illness a Risk Factor for Hyperemesis Gravidarum?
 While the majority of pregnant women experience nausea and/or vomiting during the first trimester of pregnancy, a smaller subset of women -- around 1% -- experience more severe and intractable vomiting, or hyperemesis gravidarum [...]
Perinatal Depression: Can We Predict Who is At Risk for Suicide?
It is estimated that suicide accounts for about 10% of all maternal deaths. While we have a fair amount of information to help us predict which women are at risk for depression during pregnancy and [...]
Does Universal Screening for Depression in Perinatal Populations Lead to Better Outcomes?
Over the last decade, there has been increased interest around the country in establishing consistent screening for perinatal depression across a range of clinical settings. Approximately 40 states have instituted guidelines and recommendations regarding screening [...]
Perinatal Depression in Fathers: Who is At Greatest Risk?
While perinatal depression is typically considered to be a woman’s illness, a number of studies have suggested that, although men do not experience any of the dramatic physiologic or hormonal changes that go along with [...]
Do DHA Supplements Make Babies Smarter? Yes, No, Maybe…
DHA or docosahexaenoic acid is an omega-3 fatty acid which is essential for the growth and development of the brain in infants and is required for maintenance of normal brain function in adults. Based on [...]