Women's Behavioral Health

There is a gender gap in behavioral and mental health care, and UPMC Magee-Womens wants to bridge it.

More than one in four women will face a mental illness in their adult lifetime compared to one in five men, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Depression — the most common mental health condition in adults — happens twice as often in those who identify as women than it does in men. Women are also nearly twice as likely to have a serious mental illness, such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

Women and others assigned female at birth also experience hormonal changes and life circumstances, such as pregnancy and related traumas, that increase their mental health risk.

Yet, nearly half of women will never seek treatment for mental and behavioral health issues. Left untreated, women's behavioral health conditions can take a toll on their physical health and quality of life. 

It's not always easy to know if you need behavioral or mental health care. Or you may not feel comfortable sharing what you're feeling. You need experts who understand your unique risk factors, provide compassionate care, and can create a treatment plan that works for you.

What Is Magee-Womens Behavioral Health Services?

Magee-Womens works with behavioral health providers, including experts at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, to provide behavioral health services through every life stage. We work with women and people assigned female at birth, including non-binary people.

What Behavioral and Mental Health Conditions Do We Treat?

We treat any behavioral and mental health problem you may experience in your lifetime.

Common behavioral and mental health conditions we treat include:

Anxiety disorders in women

We all have anxiety from time to time, but having an anxiety disorder means your symptoms don't go away and get in the way of daily life. Hormonal changes related to menstruation, pregnancy, and postpartum can increase anxiety in some women. Women are twice as likely as men to develop anxiety disorders.

We treat all types of anxiety disorders, including:

• Generalized anxiety disorder — Ongoing or intrusive thoughts, fear, or worry, often with physical symptoms, such as fast heartbeat, stomach pain, or nausea.
• Panic disorder — This is when you have intense and repeated panic attacks.
• Phobias — Frequent and intense fears of an object or situation, such as enclosed spaces or large crowds.

Depression in women

Depression is the most common condition we treat in both women and men. Hormonal changes during your menstrual cycle, pregnancy, postpartum period, and perimenopause can increase your risk of female-only depressive disorders and other mood disorders.

Bipolar disorder

If you have bipolar disorder, you can feel extreme mood swings for weeks — going from euphoria to deep sadness. It occurs in men and women at about the same rate but can affect them differently. Women with bipolar disorder are at an increased risk for psychotic episodes during and after pregnancy.

PMS behavioral health

Some 70% to 90% of premenopausal women experience some level of discomfort before and during their period, according to the National Library of Medicine. Of these, one-third have premenstrual syndrome, or PMS — symptoms that get in the way of their daily life before and during menstruation.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder

Some 3% to 8% of women experience a more extreme form of PMS called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), according to the NLM.

PMDD causes severe symptoms a week or two before your period, including:

• Anger or irritability.
• Anxiety, tension, or feeling "on edge."
• Decreased interest in usual activities like work, school, friends, or hobbies.
• Depressed mood, including feelings of hopelessness or self-deprecating thoughts.
• Difficulty concentrating, feeling overwhelmed, or out of control.
• Difficulty sleeping or sleeping too much.
• Fatigue or lack of energy.
• Mood swings.
• Physical symptoms, including bloating, headaches, breast tenderness, joint and muscle pain, and weight gain.

Perinatal depression

Perinatal depression is any new depression that occurs during pregnancy or after childbirth. Postpartum depression is the most common type of perinatal depression. It affects one in seven women and is the most common complication after giving birth.

Symptoms of perinatal depression include:

• Extreme sadness or tearfulness.
• Extreme fatigue.
• Severe anxiety or worry.

There's a link between PMDD and pregnancy-related depression. If you have postpartum depression, you are at an increased risk of developing PMDD.

Perimenopausal depression

Some women can experience depression that happens during the transition to menopause, called perimenopausal depression.

Symptoms include extreme feelings of:

• Anxiety.
• Irritability.
• Sadness.
• Loss of enjoyment or pleasure in things you once enjoyed.

Eating disorders

Eating disorders can happen at any age, though they are more common among young women. A person with an eating disorder forms an unhealthy relationship with food, resulting in harmful and potentially life-threatening behaviors.

We treat a variety of eating disorders, including the most common:

• Anorexia — People with anorexia severely restrict food to the point of starvation. Often, they also are obsessive about exercise.
• Bulimia — People with bulimia binge-eat large amounts of food and then purge their body of the food by throwing up or taking laxatives.

Postpartum Intrusive Thoughts and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

It's common for new moms to have intrusive, sometimes disturbing, thoughts often caused by hormonal changes. Postpartum intrusive thoughts include:

• Thinking something bad and senseless will happen to the baby.
• Thinking you may do something to harm the baby.

Though scary, these thoughts do not increase the chances you will harm your baby. But they can get in the way of mother-baby bonding. If you have intrusive thoughts, let your doctor or ob-gyn know. They can provide treatment that's right for you.

Postpartum intrusive thoughts can be a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) — a mental health disorder that manifests as repeated unwanted thoughts or actions and behaviors. OCD symptoms often are more severe or may occur for the first time during pregnancy.

Psychotic disorders in women

People with psychotic disorders, or psychosis, become confused about reality. They may hallucinate or have fantastical beliefs or delusions. Bipolar disorder increases your risk for psychotic episodes during and after pregnancy. If you're having psychotic thoughts, you need mental health care right away to protect your and your baby's health.

Psychotic disorders are a form of severe mental illness. We can also screen for and treat other forms of severe mental illness, including schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.

Substance use disorders in women

Substance use disorder is using alcohol, legal prescriptions, illegal drugs, or other substances repeatedly in a manner that is harmful to you or not as prescribed.

Depending on the substance, this can cause an addiction — an intense focus on the substance that interferes with your daily life. Drinking or using certain substances during pregnancy can harm the growing baby.

Trauma Disorders

A traumatic event can affect you deeply. It can cause anxiety and fear, which can interfere with normal life. At UPMC, we use a careful approach to trauma in our care settings.

Causes of trauma in women can include:

• Perinatal loss and grief — Miscarriage or infant loss either during pregnancy, at birth, or shortly after.
• Traumatic labor and delivery — Health complications or medical interventions may cause trauma for the birthing parent during labor or delivery.
• Troubling early life events — This type of trauma can affect the way you cope during and after pregnancy.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) — This can occur later and cause flashbacks, nightmares, and always feeling on edge. Certain life situations, such as intimate partner violence or childhood trauma and sexual abuse, can increase your risk of PTSD.

What Behavioral and Mental Health Services Does UPMC Magee-Womens Offer?

Through UPMC Magee-Womens and UPMC Western Behavioral Health, women can receive a spectrum of behavioral and mental health services and care.

Assessments and screenings

Certain life changes or events, such as pregnancy, menopause, or intimate partner violence, can increase a person's risk of mental health issues. At UPMC Magee-Womens, your mental health care is in good hands.

Our ob-gyns help:

• Screen women for depression and anxiety at each visit.
• Connect women to mental health care.
• Manage mental health medicine during and after pregnancy.

Counseling and psychotherapy

Our experts treat many behavioral and mental health problems with a mix of medicine and talk therapy. 

Our counseling and talk therapy services include:

• One-on-one in-person sessions.
• Virtual one-on-one sessions.
• Group therapy for postpartum and pregnant parents.

Pregnancy and postpartum mental health care

Pregnancy and childbirth can cause hormonal changes that increase a person's risk of mental health issues. We can help address and treat these issues before, during, and after pregnancy.

Our pregnancy and postpartum mental health care services include:

• Brexanolone infusion treatment for postpartum depression.
• Medication management during and after pregnancy.
• Mother-baby intensive outpatient program.
• Preconception assessment and counseling.
• Postpartum care, including breastfeeding support and our Postpartum Pelvic Floor Healing Clinic.
• Screening for perinatal depression and anxiety.
• Team support in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Why Choose UPMC Magee-Womens for Behavioral and Mental Health Care?

Your behavioral and mental health needs may change depending on your circumstances. At UPMC Magee-Womens, we have experts who can address your mental health needs at every stage of life.

We're here for whatever mental health problem you may face. We work closely with behavioral health teams to provide specialized pregnancy and postpartum behavioral and mental health care.

Your behavioral and mental health care team

At UPMC Magee, your behavioral and mental health care team may include:

• Psychologists — These are providers trained and licensed in mental health care counseling and treatment.
• Psychiatrists — These are doctors with special training in mental health, including those with training in reproductive psychiatry, who can prescribe mental health medications.
• Peer support at the Pregnancy Recovery Center.
• Ob-gyns.
• Ob-gyn nurses.
• OB or perinatal social workers and doulas.
• OB social workers.

Through our partners at UPMC Western Psychiatric, we also offer:

• Eating disorder counselors.
• The New and Expectant Mothers Specialized Treatment (NEST) program, which includes group therapy and intensive outpatient treatment.
• Substance use counselors.

We provide care when and where you need it.

We have counselors and therapists at:

• Fertility and Reproductive Endocrinology Services.
• Our outpatient offices.
• Our chronic pelvic pain clinics.

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By UPMC Editorial Staff. Last reviewed on 2024-09-05.