When Words Are Not Enough

Talk therapy is often enhanced when combined with antidepressant and antianxiety medications and mood stabilizers, says Raskin, a Chicago psychiatrist who specializes in women's psychopharmacology. Her guidebook details the many treatment options now available for women with anxiety and depressive disorders. Raskin (This Isn't What I Expected: Overcoming Postpartum Depression) first explains in nontechnical language the various causes of these disorders, their common symptoms, how diagnoses are made and how various medication works. In the more extensive Part Two, she discusses how psychotherapeutic medications may affect women's bodies during menstruation, pregnancy and breast-feeding, and advises on such side effects as weight gain and diminished sex drive, concerns that women may hesitate to bring up with their physicians. Getting women to talk openly to their doctors and to ask the right questions is clearly one of Raskin's aims. Her bibliography includes a section of professional readings, which she suggests women share with their doctors. Appendices provide handy summaries of information on numerous psychotherapeutic drugs, making this a useful reference for both women patients and their doctors. (June)