Department News
Women's Division Provides Innovative Mental Health Services

The Women's Psychiatric Services Divisionis directed by Laura Miller, MD, a nationally renowned expert in women's mental health. The Women's Division, which won the American Psychiatric Association's prestigious Gold Achievement Award for innovative mental health services, addresses mental health issues for women of all ages. The staff is sensitive and responsive to the fact that many women develop psychiatric symptoms related to stresses of their social roles such as relationship problems, juggling work and family responsibilities and parenting difficulties. The psychiatrists, nationally recognized experts in psychopharmacology, treat patients with careful consideration of the hormonal effects of pregnancy, menstruation, menopause and the use of birth control pills.

The division, which boasts 57 percent growth in patient volume in the past year, offers a wide variety of services. In recent months, the team welcomed Pam Wiegartz, Ph.D, a cognitive-behavioral therapist. The professional staff provides expertise in parent coaching, consultations for women with mental illness who are considering pregnancy, diagnosing and treating postpartum depression, and painstakingly monitors medications during pregnancy and breast-feeding. The division provides psychopharmacologic consultations for psychiatric symptoms related to menstrual cycles or gynecologic illness, therapy for victims of rape or abuse, and treatment related to infertility and pregnancy loss. New initiatives launched this year include an Eating Disorders Clinic, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Group, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy. Other services include outpatient therapies (individual, family and group), partner's and women's support group, medication management, consultation services, and inpatient treatment, which include specialists in women's mental health issues.