The last time TCPR covered the topic of psychotropics in pregnancy was less than two years ago, in February of 2009. Since then, however, some new treatment guidelines have been published, and they appear to be useful to clinicians.

As a pharmacist specializing in psychopharmacology, I am commonly consulted by psychiatrists to provide updated information on the safety of medications in pregnancy and breastfeeding.

These new guidelines were issued jointly by our APA and by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. In addition to providing a nice summary of the neonatal risks of antidepressant exposure, the paper offers clear, concise, and easy to follow algorithms for the management of depression in three scenarios doctors are likely to encounter.

The Motherisk Program is a teratogen information service that has been around for more than 20 years.

SSRIs theoretically work by inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin, presumably by blocking the serotonin transporter pump whose job is to clean up excess serotonin in the synapses between neurons.

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

By now you’ve probably heard about the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology’s (ABPN) new Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Program for psychiatrists. If you haven’t taken some action dictated by the new process, we have some bad news—you're probably already behind.

Use this handy chart to track your progress in maintaining your certification.

With new journals hatching frequently and a constant bombardment of information from multiple sources, it is getting more and more challenging to keep up to date.

Let me say from the outset that this program is still evolving, and what the final agreed upon requirements will look like continues to change, much to everyone’s frustration and to ABPN’s frustration as well.