Women's Mental Health Clinic

Caryn Bernstein, MD; Roya Ijadi-Maghsoodi, MD; Cassidy Zanko, MD; Katrina DeBonis, MD; Hannah Roggenkamp, MD
Tue PM & Thu AM

The Women’s Clinic is a multidisciplinary self-contained clinic within Building 500. We share the clinic with internal medicine, OB/GYN, psychology, nutrition, and have a designated pharmacist. The mental health team cares for more than 1,000 women, including a growing number of women with depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) resulting from their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Sexual trauma during military service is also a prevalent issue. Residents have their own panel of patients whom they will see multiple times during the academic year.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Residents will develop diagnostic and psychopharmacologic skills, as well as learn about the female life cycle and its role in the differences in presentation and course of mental illness in women.
  2. Residents will get comfortable obtaining a focused trauma history.
  3. Residents will learn the risks and benefits of psychotropic medications and untreated mental illness during pregnancy and lactation.
  4. Residents will learn about different psychotherapy modalities to treat psychiatric illness, including Post Traumatic Disorder (PTSD) and Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), with special attention to patients with a history of polytrauma.
  5. Residents will have an opportunity to work with a very diverse patient population. Lecture topics will include awareness of power and privilege in patient interactions and LGBTQ mental health.