Author Archives: samweiss

We showed that the pregnancy hormones estrogen and progesterone can be used to turn on and turn off symptoms of depression in women. We also showed that these hormones reduce activity in areas of the brain that respond to rewards, which may help explain why some women do not experience...

The present case report describes a patient with recurrent catatonia in the setting of end-stage liver disease (ESLD) and subsequent orthotopic liver transplant. Several important considerations are highlighted, including inherent vulnerability to catatonic states, heightened risk in the posttransplant period, and overlap of catatonia with delirium.

Dissociation is a common, disabling phenomenon that involves profound detachment from the self or surroundings. In the largest prospective, longitudinal neurobiological study of dissociation to date, work by the AURORA team suggests feeling detached from one’s surroundings may suggest a higher risk of later developing psychiatric symptoms. It’s important to...

Compared with non-exposed infants, neonates with prenatal opioid exposure demonstrated altered functional resting state connectivity in multiple brain circuits, beyond changes associated with prenatal exposure to other substances, particularly in reward-related frontal-sensory connections. Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) during pregnancy significantly reduced these alterations, particularly in limbic and frontal...