Pregnancy and Depression
I have been getting questions and comments from visitors concerned about the effects of antidepressants and psychotropic medications on pregnancy. Thus, I’ve been keeping a watchful eye on new research information published on this concern.
In the August 2007 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry was a medical education article called, “Antenatal Depression: Navigating the Treatment Dilemmas” by Dr. Marlene P. Freeman, M.D. Dr. Freeman described 2 patient case studies - a 35-year old professional woman with major depression whose illness relapsed when she discontinued her meds after becoming pregnant. Another was a 24-year old mother who became clinical depressed 20 weeks into her pregnancy. Both women posed concerns for the doctor because of the need to weigh the potential risks to the fetus from medication side effects and the risks to the mothers from not receiving medication treatment for their bipolar disorder or depression. Read more
Child Abuse and Neglect: Another Casualty of War
We’ve been hearing about soldiers suffering from mental health conditions (depression, PTSD) as a result of war deployment. This week’s Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) published an article on the incidence of child abuse and neglect in families with enlisted soldiers who were deployed for combat.
Almost two thousand families of enlisted soldiers with at least 1 combat deployment between 2001-2004 were studied. Researchers found that the rate of neglecting children by soldier parents were higher during times of deployment (and therefore associated parental stress) than during times of non-deployment while the raet of physical child abuse was lower. On the other hand, the rate of mistreating children by female civilian spouses was four times as great (neglect) and twice as great (physical abuse) when their husbands were deployed. Read more
Smoking Pot Increases Risk of Developing Schizphrenia
British psychiatrist Stanley Zammit and his colleagues published a study in The Lancet that suggests a link between marijuana (”pot”) use and increased risk of developing psychotic illnesses like schizophrenia by up to 41%. While the marijuana debate has often focused on “medical uses”, this report suggests that new dangers of smoking pot or marijuana. The study was conducted at the University of Bristol and funded by the Department of Health. Read more