Advanced training in reproductive psychiatry: The case for standardization in training and a path to sub-specialty recognition

Excerpt

Reproductive psychiatry involves the study, evaluation, and treatment of psychiatric disorders throughout the reproductive cycle, including menarche, premenstrual periods, perinatal, and the perimenopausal transition. Published literature suggests that fluctuations in reproductive hormones, including estrogen and progesterone, can have profound impact on the development and exacerbation of a variety of psychiatric illnesses in women vulnerable to these transitions (Meltzer-Brody and Steube 2014). Further, reproductive transitions represent times of profound psychological and social-environmental change, often with increased stress. The perinatal period is arguably the most critical of these transitions, in that psychiatric illness impacts not only the mother but can influence pregnancy and infant outcomes. …