Women's Mental Health

We offer women comprehensive treatment tailored to their unique needs. We specialize in treating psychological and psychiatric problems that arise in the context of premenstrual syndromes, infertility, pregnancy, childbirth and menopause. Our psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers share a common commitment to understanding women's mental health needs.  Our aim is to provide comprehensive care that relieves distress and promotes well-being and social functioning.  To this end we provide a range of psychiatric and psychotherapy/counseling services, including evaluation, medication, couples treatment, group treatment, individual therapy and supportive care.
In collaboration with our colleagues in other specialties, we provide women's mental health services for the following problems:

• Evaluation for egg donors
• Complications of infertility treatments
• Depression, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder during pregnancy and post partum
• Menopause related disorders
• Anxiety disorders
• Depression
• Bipolar disorder
• Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Eating disorders
• Substance use disorders
• Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Migraine headaches

Julia B. Frank, MD
Dr. Frank is a 1977 graduate of the Yale University School of Medicine. She completed a year of internal medicine residency before finishing a psychiatry residency and fellowship in the department of psychiatry at Yale. She is a member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, The Association of Women Psychiatrists and the Society for Women's Health Research. She is also a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

Over the course of her career, Dr. Frank has done research in post partum psychiatric disorders, panic disorder and post traumatic stress disorder. She has written review articles about domestic violence, women's mental health in primary care settings and the psychiatric consequences of head injuries. Her current interests include the treatment of psychiatric disorders in relation to reproductive events (pregnancy, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, perimenopausal psychiatric problems), seasonal affective disorder, depression and anxiety, and ADD in adults. Her approach is practical and eclectic, combining thorough medical evaluation, where indicated, with up to date psychopharmacology and diverse approaches to psychotherapy, especially interpersonal therapy.

Suena H. Massey, MD
Suena Massey is a board-certified psychiatrist who specializes in treating a variety of difficulties affecting women including poor self-esteem, eating disorders, depression, anxiety and alcoholism and substance use disorders. She offers psychotherapy either with or without medication as appropriate, as well as medication management alone. Additionally, as part of the GWU/MFA Fertility Center team, Dr. Massey provides evaluation and counseling to women interested in egg donation, as well as women undergoing various fertility and assisted reproductive procedures.

Lisa Catapano, MD, PhD
Dr. Catapano received her MD and PhD in Neurobiology from Harvard Medical School in 2003. She performed her residency training in psychiatry at GWU and completed a clinical research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health, studying the pathophysiology of depression and bipolar disorder. Her clinical interests include anxiety and mood disorders in women, particularly infertility-related and postpartum depression.

Barrie Seidman, LiCSW, BCD
Barrie Seidman is a Board Certified Diplomate Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has been a member of the Department of Psychiatry for 27 years. She specializes in eating disorders, providing treatment with a combination of individual and group therapy. Ms. Seidman works with women throughout the life cycle on issues of aging and maintaining a healthy life style through a balance of eating and exercise. She works with women who are depressed, anxious, and who have interpersonal problems using individual, group, couples and family therapy. When medication is indicated she works collaboratively with one of the faculty psychiatrists on our staff.

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