Women's mental health?

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KeiraMD

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Hello all, just stumbled upon this site and looks like there is some nice and helpful advice.

I am interested in Women's mental health..I know there are some unaccredited fellowships that exist in this area but haven't had too much luck finding them all.

Does anyone know what programs can provide good training and education in women's mental health - ie mental illness in pregnancy, post partum, maternal-infant communication, domestic violence, eating disorders.....? Either fellowship ideally, or at least faculty in the program that have this focus?
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Minnesota programs are pretty good. Benita Dieperink at HCMC (I think she also teaches at UoM) has special interest in women's psych, so I guess you could contact her to find out more.
 
Hi there,
I've tried asking about this earlier on the forum,guess its not a very common field,so I haven't gotten any answers yet. I've tried to find out a few things though-UCSF might have a fellowship on this,Google Louann Brizendine ,she wrote the female brain and I've attended her women's health case presentations at Langley Porter in the past. Also,I think MGH,Duke and Uni of Chicago have a 1 yr fellowship straight after pgy3. Try contacting them directly for more information. I'm only starting my residency this July so I haven't really begun looking into this that deeply as yet but its definitely something I want to pursue.
 
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does anyone else have information on this? it sounds like a very interesting field, however very limited in terms of fellowship...
 
There's an attending at my medical school who did a women's mental health fellowship and now does clinic where she only sees women. I don't think she made any more money than anyone else. I think she just liked working with that population.

As an MS3 I had one patient with post-partum psychosis (which her grandmother had also had, interestingly) and another with severe post-partum depression. I found these patients to be so interesting because there was clearly something biologically going on that was affecting their mind/moods (as opposed to the much more common personality disorders that we always had which are less clearly "biological").

I really prefer the "medical" side of psychiatry, and so for me all the issues surrounding pregnancy are fascinating. I'm male, but I find pregnancy to be one of the coolest things in life. I absolutely loved my OB rotation. I can really see the appeal of women's mental health.
 
Women's Mental Health (in psychiatry) tends to revolve around reproductive issues versus, for example, eating disorders which is usually a separate area of expertise/specialization.

The area of reproductive psychiatry is still small, but several programs have dedicated clinical faculty and research in this area, and those are the places that would be most likely to offer a fellowship in that area.

Off the top of my head, some of the big places I can think of (sorry not as familiar with the midwest):

1) MGH
2) Yale (Kim Yonkers, Neill Epperson)
3) NYU (Shari Lusskin)
4) Emory (Zach Stowe)
5) Pitt (Kathy Wisner)
6) UIC
7) UNC Chapel Hill (David Rubinow)
8) Stanford (Natalie Rasgon)
9) UCLA (Lori Altshuler)

UCSF does have a women's center but Dr. Brizendine doesn't produce much research/publications in the field, and thus, they have no dedicated fellowship that I know of.
Duke does not have a very strong program for women's mental health

PM me if you want more info on the field, contacts, etc.
 
BobA said:
I'm male, but I find pregnancy to be one of the coolest things in life. I absolutely loved my OB rotation. I can really see the appeal of women's mental health.
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I think the statement in bold should read, "I am male, so I find pregnancy to be..." etc 😛 It is kinda hard to find it cool when you feel twice your age (back pain, SOB, oedema etc), look like a Moby Dick and can't get comfy enough for even a couple of hours of sleep.

Seriously, though - women's mental health is a fascinating area of psychiatry, and one that, IMHO, one could find a comfortable niche in - both in terms of clinical hours and research.
 
BabyPsychDoc said:
one could find a comfortable niche in - both in terms of clinical hours and research.
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Note that in the two perinatal psychiatry groups I've been around, they each have serious struggles recruiting patients despite their affiliations with major obstetrical centers. It's hard enough to recruit psych patients for studies (and follow them). It's hard enough to recruit pregant people for studies (and follow them). Trying to recruit pregnant psych patients for studies is like trying to dunk on a 12 foot rim with a broken ankle. Or something like that.
 
is the patient base very small (aka not very productive, income wise)? how are these psychiatrists faring in terms of salary?
 
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Sharpie1 said:
is the patient base very small (aka not very productive, income wise)? how are these psychiatrists faring in terms of salary?
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I really have no idea what the salary is - doubt it's much more than anyone else - but the fellowships generally are PGY-4 so there is no extra time in training.
 
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billypilgrim37 said:
Note that in the two perinatal psychiatry groups I've been around, they each have serious struggles recruiting patients despite their affiliations with major obstetrical centers. It's hard enough to recruit psych patients for studies (and follow them). It's hard enough to recruit pregant people for studies (and follow them). Trying to recruit pregnant psych patients for studies is like trying to dunk on a 12 foot rim with a broken ankle. Or something like that.
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Yeah, I can imagine it would be an issue. I guess, that's why there is little going on in terms of research in the field outside large centres, like MGH.
 
this was some good information! i also found Univ of Mich has a women's mental health center and is doing maternal-infant research. think Miami Fl has a women's center as well although I don't know how much faculty is doing there.
 
it seems some psychiatrists have been practicing this without a fellowship...does anyone know if this is something common and generally possible?
 
This is a little bit of an aside, but I thought it would be a good place to plug for this article which I thought was pretty cool and potentially insightful for post-partum depression.
Now to see what falls out of the tree when big pharm tries to shake.
Okay, continue previous discussion.
 
I guess without a fellowship you just have to land a job in a reproductive psychiatry facility rather than being able to just call yourself a reproductive psychiatrist and open up your own practice with that title. Right?
 
Sharpie1 said:
I guess without a fellowship you just have to land a job in a reproductive psychiatry facility rather than being able to just call yourself a reproductive psychiatrist and open up your own practice with that title. Right?
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The only sub specialties that are official in psych are child, consult-liason, addiction, geriatric, and forensic. Beyond that, you can probably annoint yourself an expert in anything you want, without necessarily needing to complete a fellowhip in that area. Of course one of these unofficial clinical "niche" fellowships does demonstrate that you have worked with recognized experts and sought to develop yourself in that direction.
 
Not to sabotage the thread, but I'm curious what you guys think about a presentation I had from a senior psych resident. I'm on my OB/GYN rotation now and at noon lecture yesterday a psych resident repeatedly emphasized that she wants us to consider depression a "woman's problem."

I've heard these kinds of absolutist remarks before and they always rouse the critical part of me as I'm unsure who this kind of remark helps. Many women I've seen with legitimate, non-psych medical problems are shrugged off b/c they are assumed to be "crazy" or "whiny." On the other hand, many guys I served with in Iraq (who have SEVERE mental health issues) refuse to get help precisely because they fear being viewed as less masculine.

I realize there is a 2:1 to 3:1 ratio of depression in women:men, but this is not an impressive ratio to me as there are many diseases with much greater gender differences. In addition, depression is so common to begin with that even with this ratio that still leaves a huge number of depressed males.

Am I off my rocker here or should I start considering depression a female problem?
 
scubadoc78 said:
Not to sabotage the thread, but I'm curious what you guys think about a presentation I had from a senior psych resident. I'm on my OB/GYN rotation now and at noon lecture yesterday a psych resident repeatedly emphasized that she wants us to consider depression a "woman's problem."

I've heard these kinds of absolutist remarks before and they always rouse the critical part of me as I'm unsure who this kind of remark helps. Many women I've seen with legitimate, non-psych medical problems are shrugged off b/c they are assumed to be "crazy" or "whiny." On the other hand, many guys I served with in Iraq (who have SEVERE mental health issues) refuse to get help precisely because they fear being viewed as less masculine.

I realize there is a 2:1 to 3:1 ratio of depression in women:men, but this is not an impressive ratio to me as there are many diseases with much greater gender differences. In addition, depression is so common to begin with that even with this ratio that still leaves a huge number of depressed males.

Am I off my rocker here or should I start considering depression a female problem?
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It depends on what she meant by "women's problem". If this psych doc was trying to "rally the troops" in OB/GYN to focus on depression the same way they would "Wear Red for Women's Heart Disease" or walk 50 miles for breast cancer, etc--in other words, meaning to stir up some advocacy and awareness, see it as a major issue in their specialized patient population, then I'm all for it.

I would hope that it was not meant to minimize depression in men, which does have the added burden of stigma and overcoming machismo, etc. I think that in general the genders do experience depression differently.
Here's a good resource for the guys you see, possibly.
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Want-Talk-About-Overcoming/dp/0684835398/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242921964&sr=8-1#
 
I interviewed at MI and the stuff they have going on research-wise regarding reproductive psychiatry is cool, top-flite stuff. I can't remember the name of the main researcher, Maria Muzak maybe? Tiny, happy Austrian woman with very short gray hair and wire-rimmed glasses. Would have loved to train there but didn't rank it #1 for geography/spousal job reasons. There are great people there and tons of research opportunity.

I don't think a fellowship is necessary at all since it is a budding small field. Just do general psych and see a lot of women. I think most folks who post on this site are from the coasts where (it seems like) everyone has a fellowship in something. Not necessarily the case in the midwest.
 
Muzik, not Muzak. Maria is much more interesting than Muzak.

Sheila Marcus does most of the reproductive, perinatal depression work, Maria is more focused on trauma and attachment. They're dynamic people.
 
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