Gender-Specific Care for Women in Psychiatric Units

Structural inequalities in health care often result in female patients' not receiving care tailored to their needs. Women with mental illness in the peripartum period are no exception. Caan and colleagues delve into the benefits of breastfeeding in psychiatric units, highlighting the scarcity of appropriate resources due to the lack of mother-baby units in the United States. They also offer practical solutions and a legal analysis to address this problem. This commentary aims to broaden the scope of the article and emphasize how psychiatric care in the United States needs to address much more than lactation to provide gender-specific care. Elements of care to consider include types of treatment modalities offered, perinatal psychotropic choices, access to co-hospitalization options, lactation resources, and posthospitalization support. Pursuing a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach will allow psychiatric facilities in the United States to provide gender-appropriate care that will not only benefit women with mental health needs in the peripartum period, but also their infants and families as a whole.