Sex Differences in Neurology and Psychiatry

Sex Differences in Neurology and Psychiatry, Volume 175, addresses this important issue by viewing major neurological and psychiatric conditions through the lens of sexual dimorphism, providing an entirely novel approach to understanding vulnerability factors, as well as potential new treatment strategies in several common neuropsychiatric disorders. The handbook comprises four major sections: (1) Introduction to sex differences in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, (2) Description of the impact of genetic, epigenetic, sex hormonal and other environmental effects on cerebral sex dimorphism, (3) Review of sex differences in neurologic disorders, and (4) Review of sex differences in psychiatric disorders.

Explores sex differences in human neuroanatomy and neurophysiologyOffers a pathway toward a gender-specific treatment of neurologic and psychiatric disordersProvides an overview of the genetics of sex hormones, human brain structure, and function, as well as the epigenetics, environment and social context

Section I. Sex Differences in Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology 1. Structural differences between male and female brains 2. Beyond sex differences and a male-female continuum: mosaic brains in a multidimensional space 3. Brain development 4. HPA axis, stress 5. Spatial skills 6. Gender differences in language are small but matter for disorders 7. Sex differences in cognition and aging and the influence of sex hormones 8. Sex and the serotonin system 9. Sex and the dopaminergic system:  Insights from addiction studies 10. Sex and the noradrenergic system

Section II. Genes, Hormones, and Epigenetic Mechanisms 11. Genetics of sex differences in neuroanatomy and function 12. Sex hormones and human brain function 13. Environmental epigenetics of sex differences in the brain

Section III. Sex Differences in Neurologic Disorders 14. Brain structural and neuroendocrine basis of sex differences in epilepsy  15. Neuroinflammation 16. Sex difference in Alzheimer Disease: an updated, balanced and emerging perspective on differing vulnerabilities 17. Sex differences in movement disorders 18. Autism spectrum disorder 19. Sex differences in stroke

Section IV. Sex Differences in Psychiatric Disorders 20. Schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders 21. Sex differences in stress-related disorders: major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder 22. The role of sex and gender in anxiety disorders: being scared ‘like a girl’? 23. Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders 24. Feeding and eating disorders 25. Sex differences in antisocial and aggressive disorders that onset in childhood and persist into adulthood 26. Addiction among women and sexual minority groups

Section V. Gender Medicine: Towards a Gender-Specific Treatment of Neuropsychiatric Disorders 27. Gender medicine: towards a gender-specific treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders