Future directions for studies of women's mental health

Women's mental health is increasingly recognized as a major field with an impact on the well-being of individuals, their families, and society. It is also recognized that this field is in its infancy and needs to be well delineated: Definitions and assessment procedures for the various topics need to be developed; the pathobiologies are as yet unknown; and time course, variations, and treatment outcome of most of the entities included are unknown or not confirmed. Also, interactions among phenomena, biology, environment, and sociopsychological aspects have not been well studied. A group of investigators whose focus is on various aspects of women's mental health, especially reproduction-related dysphorias, met and discussed their respective priorities for studies in the field. Mechanisms and operational vehicles to effectively achieve the expressed goals and to conduct the proposed studies are presented.