This comprehensive reference and text synthesizes a vast body of clinically useful knowledge about women's mental health and health care. Coverage includes women's psychobiology across the life span--sex differences in neurobiology and psychopharmacology and psychiatric aspects of the reproductive cycle--as well as gender-related issues in assessment and treatment of frequently encountered psychiatric disorders. Current findings are presented on sex differences in epidemiology, risk factors, presenting symptoms, treatment options and outcomes, and more. Also addressed are mental health consultation to other medical specialties, developmental and sociocultural considerations in service delivery, and research methodology and health policy concerns.

As women, we know how important it is to take charge of our health care-to be informed and proactive. But too often we forget that our mental wellness is an integral part of our overall health. The Complete Guide to Mental Health for Women is the definitive resource for women looking for answers to their mental health questions, whether those questions concern a disorder like depression or adjusting to major life changes like motherhood or divorce. Drawing on the latest thinking in psychiatry and psychology, written for women of diverse backgrounds, The Complete Guide to Mental Health for Women begins with Part One, the life cycle, helping women understand the major issues and biological changes associated with young adulthood, middle age, and old age. Specific entries address the psychological importance of women's sexuality, relationships, motherhood, childlessness, trauma, and illness and discuss how social contexts, such as poverty and racism, inevitably affect mental health. Part Two explores specific mental disorders, including those, like postpartum depression, related to times when women are particularly vulnerable to mental illness. Part Three takes a closer look at biological treatments-including the use of antidepressants, and various types of psychotherapy-from cognitive behavioral treatments to EMDR and beyond. The Complete Guide to Mental Health for Women ends with a section on life enhancements-because the activities that help us live fuller, more vital lives are also essential to our mental health. The Complete Guide to Mental Health for Women * Draws on the knowledge and practical experience of more than fifty psychologists and psychiatrists * Helps women think through the psychological challenges inherent in the life cycle, from young adulthood through old age * Focuses on key life issues, from sexuality and relationships to trauma and racism * Provides important information on mental disorders, their biological treatments, and psychotherapeutic interventions * Includes a comprehensive list of psychotropic medications, targeted reading suggestions, crucial online resources, and support groups The Complete Guide to Mental Health for Women covers what every woman should know about: * Aging. What should I expect from menopause? What do I need to know about the benefits and risks of hormone therapy? * Pregnancy. How will becoming a mother change me? How do I overcome postpartum depression? * Childlessness. What if I don't want to be a mother? * Sexuality. Is a "female Viagra" the solution to women's sexual complaints? How does societal ambivalence about women's sexuality affect me? * Body Image and Eating Disorders. Are all eating disorders a reaction to societal pressures to be thin? * Polypharmacy. Why are some patients prescribed more than one type of psychotropic drug? Is this overmedicating? * Finding a Psychotherapist. How do I know if a therapist is right for me? And how do I know what type of therapy I need? * Anger. Why is it the most difficult emotion for many women to express? * EMDR. What exactly is EMDR? Is it a reputable therapy? * Depression and Anxiety. What do I need to know about psychopharmaceuticals? Does talk therapy help? * Complementary Treatments for Depression and Anxiety. Does St. John's Wort really work? What else might help?

This is a comprehensive, up-to-date and evidence-based review of women's mental health. It starts by considering the social and cultural contexts of women's lives today before addressing how developmental aspects pertain to mental health, exploring biological, evolutionary and psychosocial parameters. The heart of the book contains a series of chapters with a clinical emphasis. These aim to elucidate causal mechanisms for gender differences in mental disorder considering hormonal and environmental influences. The therapeutic implications of gender are then addressed in some detail, with a focus on inter-partner and other forms of violence, substance misuse, personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. The book concludes with a detailed section considering psychosis and its sequelae in women and their families. The book's scope is intended to be broad, and it is aimed at a clinical audience including psychiatrists and general physicians, as well as mental health nurses, psychologists, social workers and occupational therapists.

A comprehensive, up-to-date and evidence-based review of women's mental health, written by leading experts, for mental health clinicians.

Named a 2013 Doody's Core Title! 2012 Third Place AJN Book of the Year Award Winner in Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing! "This is a great resource for any nurse working with women."--Score: 94, 4 Stars. Doody's Medical Reviews This is a quick-access clinical guide to the range of mental health issues and diagnoses that commonly affect women across the life span. It focuses on the unique biopsychosocial factors that make women especially vulnerable to psychological disorders and emphasizes key stressors specific to women that are precursors to mental illness. Frequent headings and bulleted, concise presentation of information facilitates reading. In addition to discussing mental health issues specific to women, the guide covers unique populations such as disabled women, lesbian and transgendered women, female veterans, women with forensic health concerns, and women who have been the object of violence. Chapters also address childbearing issues, including menstruation-related problems, infertility and its psychological implications, and antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum psychological disorders. Developmental milestones, the impact of culture on mental illness, and global health issues are covered as well. Tables and charts present key facts in an easy-to-read format. Key Features: Provides a concise, easy-to-use guide to womenís mental health issues across the life span for new and seasoned nurse practitioners Focuses on stressors unique to women as precursors of mental illness Delivers commonly occurring DSM-IV disorders in women, using a consistent format that includes etiology, assessment, and drug and behavioral therapeutic approaches Discusses preconception and childbearing issues, the impact of violence, female veterans, disabled women, lesbian women, and transgendered women

A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health Edited by Bruce Lubotsky Levin and Marion Ann Becker As many as one-half of all women in the U.S. will experience some form of mental illness in their lives—an especially distressing fact when health care budgets are in flux, adding to existing disparities and unmet health needs. Written from a unique multidisciplinary framework, A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health addresses today’s most pressing mental health challenges: effective treatment, efficient prevention, equal access, improved service delivery, and stronger public policy. Eminent clinicians, researchers, academicians, and advocates examine the effects of mental illness on women’s lives and discuss the scope of clinical and service delivery issues affecting women, focusing on these major areas: Epidemiology of mental disorders in girls, female adolescents, adult women, and older women. Selected disorders of particular concern to women, including depression and postpartum depression, eating disorders, menopause, chemical dependence, and HIV/AIDS. Mental health needs of women in the workplace, rural areas, and prisons. Racial and ethnic disparities and their impact on service delivery. Parenting and recovery issues in mothers with mental illness. Women’s mental health services in an era of evidence-based medicine. Improving women’s health in today’s technological climate. A Public Health Perspective of Women’s Mental Health is a resource of immediate importance to professionals and graduate students in the public health, health administration, health disparities, social work, behavioral health, and health services research fields, as well as nursing, community/health psychology and community/public psychiatry.

This comprehensive update of the popular second edition of the authors' Concise Guide to Women's Mental Health provides the latest evidence-based medical and psychiatric facts related to the assessment and treatment of women with psychiatric disorders -- particularly as women pass through reproductive transitions or experience hormonal challenges -- reviewing the ways in which these times are integral to gender-sensitive case formulations, diagnoses, and treatment planning. The Clinical Manual of Women's Mental Health emphasizes evidence-based medicine and reflects the authors' expanding clinical experience. Key features include Extensively revised chapters on the use of psychiatric medications during pregnancy and breast-feeding, abortion and contraception, and the use of hormones during menopause. A meticulous review of the use of psychopharmacological agents to treat women at important reproductive transition points. Numerous and thorough references and citations from the latest peer-reviewed journals. More than 50 carefully annotated tables and charts -- especially those on the use of psychiatric medications in pregnancy and breast-feeding. Summary passages that enable readers to quickly gain access to important evidence-based data that will inform their practice. Asserting that a multidisciplinary, comprehensive approach -- one that incorporates both psychotherapy and careful attention to social needs -- is integral to successful treatment, the authors of Clinical Manual of Women's Mental Health discuss the latest data on women's mental health, including premenstrual dysphoric disorder, hormonal contraception and effects on mood, mood/anxiety/psychotic disorders during pregnancy and postpartum, the effect of breast-feeding on the treatment of postpartum disorders, perimenopause and menopause, postmenopause, psychological implications of infertility, abortion and miscarriage, female-specific cancers, and gender issues in the treatment of mental illness. Easily accessed by clinicians at every level of medicine, psychiatry, obstetrics-gynecology, psychology, and social work, the Clinical Manual of Women's Mental Health is best used as an ancillary text for students, interns, residents, and graduated clinicians and researchers in psychiatry, family medicine, internal medicine, internal medicine subspecialties, and obstetrics-gynecology. Finally, lay women with psychiatric conditions who wish to better understand how they can make wise decisions regarding their care and well-being as they face important issues such as pregnancy, breast-feeding, and hormone therapy will welcome this updated edition of the Clinical Manual of Women's Mental Health.

"More women (47.6%) receive mental health services compared with men (34.8%). Women are twice as likely as men to develop major depressive disorder. Furthermore, 10%-15% of women experience depression during the perinatal period, which makes depression one of the most common complications of childbirth (Gaynes et al. 2005). These statistics illustrate that psychiatric disorders in women are common during the reproductive years and that the hormonal fluctuations associated with the reproductive life cycle contribute to the etiology of mental illness in women. Medical practitioners in all fields will encounter female patients with mental illness across the lifespan, particularly major depressive and anxiety disorders. Consequently, there is a great imperative for high-quality educational materials that increase the competency of providers. This outstanding work is divided into two parts. Part I provides a comprehensive overview of the reproductive life cycle and covers mental health concerns across the lifespan, including the relationship between gynecological and sexual health and mental health as well as infertility, the premenstrual period, and perimenopause. Part II is devoted to the perinatal period and offers a conceptual framework for a clinical approach to the pregnant and postpartum patient, followed by evidence-based reviews of the management of psychiatric disorders (by diagnostic category), as well as covering stress in pregnancy, infant mental health, and legal/forensic issues. Critical summaries of the epidemiology, risk factors, screening methods, and clinical features are presented. This book must be required reading for all faculty and trainees who will care for women"--

"In this book you’ll find a thoughtfully edited chronicle of the unique convergence of genetic, hormonal, social, and environmental forces that influence a woman’s mental health over the course of her life. Both comprehensive and nuanced, Women’s Reproductive Mental Health Across the Lifespan captures the science, clinical observation, and collective wisdom of experts in the field. Professionals and laypersons alike are well-advised to make room on their bookshelves for this one!" - Margaret Howard, Ph.D., Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; Women & Infants Hospital, Providence RI "This outstanding collection of work is an important, timely, and much needed resource. Dr. Diana Lynn Barnes has been instrumental in bringing attention to the needs of perinatal women for decades. In Women's Reproductive Health Across the Lifespan, she brilliantly unites the medical world of reproductive life events with the psychiatric and psychological world of mental health issues associated with them. Her expertise, combined with contributions by distinguished leaders in the field, create a volume of work that should be studied carefully by every medical and mental health provider who works with women." - Karen Kleiman, MSW, The Postpartum Stress Center, Author of Therapy and the Postpartum Woman "Finally, a book that addresses the entire scope of women’s reproductive mental health spanning the gamut from puberty to menopause. The list of chapter contributors reads like a who’s who of international experts. Unique to this book is its focus on the interaction of genetics, hormonal fluctuations, and the social environment. It is a must addition for the libraries of clinicians and researchers in women’s reproductive mental health". - Cheryl Tatano Beck, DNSc, CNM, FAAN, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor, School of Nursing, University of Connecticut Pregnancy and childbirth are generally viewed as joyous occasions. Yet for numerous women, these events instead bring anxiety, depression, and emotional distress. Increased interest in risk reduction and early clinical intervention is bringing reproductive issues to the forefront of women's mental health. The scope of Women's Reproductive Mental Health across the Lifespan begins long before the childbearing years, and continues well after those years have ended. Empirical findings, case examples, and dispatches from emerging areas of the field illuminate representative issues across the continuum of women's lives with the goal of more effective care benefitting women and their families. Chapter authors discuss advances in areas such as fertility treatment and contraception, and present current thinking on the psychological impact of pregnancy loss, menopause, cancer, and other stressors. These expert contributors emphasize the connections between an individual's biology and psychology and cultural expectations in shaping women's mental health, and the balance between a client's unique history and current clinical knowledge clinicians need to address disorders. Included in the coverage: The experience of puberty and emotional wellbeing. Body image issues and eating disorders in the childbearing years. Risk assessment and screening during pregnancy. Normal and pathological postpartum anxiety. Mood disorders and the transition to menopause. The evolution of reproductive psychiatry. A reference with an extended shelf life, Women's Reproductive Mental Health across the Lifespan enhances the work of researchers and practitioners in social work, clinical psychology, and psychiatry, and has potential relevance to all health care professionals.

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. Updates in the second edition include the latest findings about premenstrual dysphoric disorder, the use of psychiatric medications in pregnant and breast-feeding women, perinatal loss, surgical menopause, eating disorders, sexual trauma, seasonal affective disorder, sleep disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Complementing lengthier psychiatric references, this latest "Concise Guide" 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 toconsultation-liaison services and private offices.