Hormones might aid Women with Schizophrenia  

Schizophrenia commonly impacts more men than women, and women usually develop symptoms around five years later than men. Thus far, the treatment for both men and women has been the same.

During her psychiatric training, Jayashri Kulkami, MBBS, PhD, spoke with many schizophrenic women who kept telling her "It's my hormones, Doc." They also told her "No one takes any notice when I say it's to do with my hormones." Dr. Kulkami took notice and she and her colleagues have now completed a series of small studies which shows that estrogen can have a noticeable effect in reducing symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and disordered thinking. The findings were from a four-week study of 102 women of childbearing age with diagnosed schizophrenia. Kulkami and her colleagues at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia used a patch containing estradiol, the most common form of estrogen, for half of the women. They continued to take the normal medications prescribed for their illness. The other half also had a patch, but it contained no active medication.

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