The most recent edition of Women's Health In Focus at NIH explores women and mental health across the lifespan. The feature story highlights several areas of research on the biological and social drivers of women's mental health.  [NIH]

Letter from the Editor...

More than 1 in 4 women have a mental health disorder, compared to fewer than 1 in 5 men.1 For several mental health disorders, the sex differences are stark: women have roughly double the lifetime risk for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and eating disorders. Biological sex differences—including in genetics, gene expression, brain development and architecture, and hormones—may contribute to this greater prevalence of these disorders among women. Gendered power dynamics, early life experiences, and other social determinants of health also affect women’s mental health and can interact in complex ways with biological sex differences. In this issue of In Focus, we highlight several areas of research on the biological and social drivers of women’s mental health throughout the life course. The feature story describes how leading experts in the field are working to unravel the complex web of genetic, social, hormonal, and neurobiological influences on mental health disorders. The story highlights several important areas of research: the long-term consequences of early life adversity; the development and evolution of a community engaged postpartum mental health intervention for low-income women; the complex relationship between menopause and mental health; and how decades of NIH-led research on neurobiological effects of female reproductive hormones led to novel medications for postpartum depression.

For our Women in Science interview, we speak with Jill Goldstein, Ph.D., M.P.H., the founder and executive director of the Innovation Center on Sex Differences in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (ICON-✘), about her decades-long efforts to understand the early life antecedents of sex differences in brain- and heart-related disorders and to drive innovative solutions and industry partnerships that promote women’s health through research on biological sex differences.

This issue also spotlights several recent ORWH events and research articles relevant to women’s health. In addition, we are delighted to share several new NIH resources regarding women’s health. Please feel free to share In Focus with your colleagues.

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