Women are at significant risk for severe psychiatric illness after childbirth, particularly during the first three months. Â Suicide is a rare but tragic outcome of untreated psychiatric illness in this setting. Â In order to prevent [...]
While suicide is not a common event among women with postpartum depression, suicide is one of the leading causes of death in postpartum women. Â Thus, being able to reliably identify risk factors for suicide is [...]
According to a recent review published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, it is estimated that nearly 31% of women and 26% of men report experiencing some form of intimate partner violence (IPV) in their [...]
Previous studies have shown that children who have lost a parent to suicide are more likely to attempt suicide than children whose parents died unintentionally. One obvious explanation for this finding is that the parents who attempt or commit suicide are more likely to have a mood disorder or serious psychiatric illness and that their children share this genetic vulnerability and are therefore more likely to have a psychiatric illness which increases their 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 [...]
Multiple small studies have demonstrated a link between infertility and psychological distress, reporting high rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms among women with infertility. These studies have evaluated psychiatric symptoms or psychological distress; however, less is known about the prevalence of more significant psychiatric disorders in this population. Â
A recent population-based case-control study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology used Washington State birth certificates linked to hospital discharge data to evaluate the association between hospitalization for a psychiatric illness before delivery and risk of postpartum suicide attempt. The study compared women hospitalized for a postpartum suicide attempt (n = 355) with a group of controls who had not been hospitalized (n = 1420).
