The mind and body are interconnected in ways the medical community is only
beginning to understand. Mental health and hormonal fluctuations have
a tremendous effect on women’s bodies – and changes in women’s
bodies over the course of their lives greatly influence their mental health.
Following three decades of research, the field of reproductive psychiatry
has emerged to marry our understanding of mental health issues (sleep
disorders, depression, etc.) with what we know about physical changes
that occur over the course of a woman’s life (menses, childbirth,
menopause).
The result is astonishing, welcoming and greatly needed.
“There is a huge stigma about mental illness, particularly around
new mothers,” said Hoag Women’s Mental Health program director
Patricia De Marco Centeno, M.D. “What we’re doing at Hoag
is creating a supportive infrastructure to treat women who are struggling
and who feel unnecessary guilt and isolation.”
“We educate the patient and the family that there is nothing they
did to cause their mental health issues, that they’re not alone
and that we are here to help. When you educate people about those three
things, they immediately feel relieved.”
Hoag’s Women’s Mental Health Program will provide state-of-the-art
evaluation and treatment of psychiatric disorders associated with reproductive
changes, including premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), pregnancy-associated
mood disturbance, postpartum psychiatric illness, and peri- and post-menopausal
depression.
The program will work in concert with obstetricians/gynecologists, primary
care physicians and other doctors to provide scientifically sound and
clinically useful information to help caregivers and patients alike in
such areas as:
- Managing pre-existing depression and other mental health issues during
and following pregnancy.
- Helping patients explore lifestyle changes, pharmacological and/or therapeutic
treatments for the physical and psychological issues that come with menopause.
- Treating the depression and anxiety surrounding infertility.
The reproductive psychiatrist is able to scrutinize emerging data and present
it to patients and their treating physicians in a way that is clinically
relevant, Dr. De Marco Centeno explained.
Dr. De Marco Centeno said she is excited to bring her expertise to Hoag,
where so much innovative and thoughtful work is being done to offer women
the most advanced and comprehensive care.
“What attracted me to Hoag is the passion for women’s health,”
she said. “They gave importance to the field by building an infrastructure
that would validate women as they struggled with illness. It is a very
impressive level of commitment and a validation of what it means to focus
on women’s health.”