title: Special biological issues in the management of women with schizophrenia.
abstract: Schizophrenia is a debilitating and pervasive mental illness with devastating effects on psychological, cognitive and social wellbeing, and for which current treatment options are far from ideal. Gender differences and the influence of the female reproductive life cycle on the onset, course and symptoms of schizophrenia and the discovery of estrogen's remarkable psychoprotective properties in animal models led to the proposal of the 'estrogen protection hypothesis' of schizophrenia. This has fueled the recent successful investigation of estradiol as a potential adjuvant therapeutic agent in the management of schizophrenia in women. This review explains the scientific rationale behind the estrogen hypothesis and how it can be clinically utilized to address concerns unique to the care of women with schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Level One, Old Baker Building, The Alfred Hospital, Commercial Road, Melbourne 3004, Australia. j.kulkarni@alfred.org.au
authors.forename: Jayashri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.forename: Emmy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gavrilidis
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Heaton
authors.forename: Roisin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Worsley
mesh_terms: D004958:Estradiol / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004967:Estrogens / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D004958:Estradiol