Concise Guide to Women's Mental Health

Women outnumber men as consumers of health care in the United States: they visit doctors more often, fill more prescriptions, undergo more surgeries, occupy more hospital beds, and spend more money on health care than men. Yet it wasn't until the past decade that active trials in gender-specific aspects of mental health began leading us to a better understanding of the psychiatric disorders to which women are vulnerable.

Distilling the findings of this research into practical information about the assessment and management of psychiatric conditions specific to women, this second edition (updated from 1997) expands upon the biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors that influence women's mental health, with particular emphasis on reproductive points in the female life cycle—and the ways in which these factors are integral to gender-sensitive case formulations, diagnoses, and treatment planning.

• Biological factors—Research increasingly shows that gender differences exist in brain anatomy and that male and female reproductive hormones produce psychoactive effects, e.g., estrogen has antidopaminergic and serotonin-enhancing effects and progesterone's metabolites may play a role in modulating gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors.

• Psychosocial factors—Seventy percent of all working women must deal with the multiple roles and conflicting demands of having children under 18 years old, compounded by traditionally disadvantaged social status and wages, and increased vulnerability to sexual and domestic violence.

• Psychopharmacological factors—Different stages of the menstrual cycle and the use of exogenous hormones (e.g., oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy) may influence blood levels and efficacy of medications (e.g., progesterone may influence drug absorption by delaying gastric emptying time).

Updates to this second edition include the latest findings about premenstrual dysphoric disorder and the use of psychiatric medications in pregnant and breast-feeding women, with new sections on perinatal loss, surgical menopause, eating disorders, sexual trauma, seasonal affective disorder, sleep disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Within just 10 chapters, the authors also cover hormonal contraception and its effects on mood; psychiatric disorders in pregnancy; postpartum psychiatric disorders; induced abortion and pregnancy loss; psychological implications of infertility, perimenopause, and menopause; gender issues in the treatment of mental illness; and female-specific cancers.

Complementing lengthier psychiatric references, this latest Concise Guide from the series by American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., offers enduring value in a convenient pocket-size format with extensive tables and illustrations. Its wealth of practical information, highlighted by material from the authors' clinical experiences, makes it a must-read for psychiatrists, psychiatry residents, and medical students working in various treatment settings, from inpatient psychiatry units and outpatient clinics to consultation-liaison services and private offices.

Vivien K. Burt, M.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, as well as Director of the Women’s Life Center, Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Victoria C. Hencrick, M.D., is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, and Director of the Pregnancy and Postpartum Mood Disorders Program, and Assistant Director of the Women’s Mood Disorders Research Program at the University of California at Los Angeles and Edelman Westside Mental Health Center.