[Gender-specific aspects of psychopharmacotherapy].

In the pharmacological treatment of mental disorders, gender-specific aspects are often ignored and guidelines also barely consider these aspects; however, male and female can react very differently to medications due to differences in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. This article provides an overview of gender-specific differences with a focus on the pharmacokinetics of psychotropic drugs. Furthermore, (life) phase-dependent differences are addressed considering the menstruation effect, the influence of oral contraceptives, pregnancy and menopause-related physiological alterations. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is a clinical instrument that can provide valuable contributions due to changing pharmacokinetics in order to optimize the efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapy in various phases of life.