Future directions for studies of women's mental health

Women's mental health is increasingly recognized as a major field with an i mpact on the well-being of individuals, their families, and society. It is also recognized that this field is in its infancy end needs to be well deli neated: Definitions and assessment procedures for the various topics need t o be developed; the pathobiologies are as yet unknown; and time course, var iations, end 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 menta l health, especially reproduction-related dysphorias, met and discussed the ir respective priorities for studies in the field. Mechanisms and operation al vehicles to effectively achieve the expressed goals and to conduct the p roposed studies are presented.