Schizophrenia in women

Castle, David; McGrath, John

doi:10.1383/wohm.2006.3.2.88

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Volume 3, Issue 2 , Pages 88-91, March 2006

Schizophrenia in women

David Castle, MSc MD MRCPsych FRANZCP
- David Castle MSc MD MRCPsych FRANZCP is Professorial Fellow at the Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria and the University of Melbourne and Consultant Psychiatrist, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. He trained in psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry, London. He has published widely, mostly in areas related to schizophrenia, notably gender differences and late-onset schizophrenia.
John McGrath, PhD FRANZCP
- John McGrath PhD FRANZCP is Director of the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, Wacol, Australia. He is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Queensland, and an adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Biomolecular Science, Griffith University, Brisbane. His research interests include risk factors for schizophrenia, and developmental neurobiology.

Abstract

This paper examines schizophrenia in women, since it is now well established that men and women differ in terms of the onset, manifestation and longitudinal course of schizophrenia. The paper emphasizes the sex differences in schizophrenia, the epidemiological features of this group of disorders, treatment issues in relation to physical health and family factors, pregnancy and breastfeeding, and how sex differences might provide clues to the aetiology of schizophrenia. The focus is on explaining sex differences in schizophrenia in which men and women may be differently vulnerable to subtypes of those disorders currently classified under the label of ‘schizophrenia.’

Keywords: mental health , schizophrenia , sex differences , antipsychotics , oestrogen

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