Ariadna Forray, MD
Cards
About
Research
Overview
The overarching goal of Dr. Forray’s research is to address our knowledge gap and lack of treatments for substance use and psychiatric disorders in the perinatal period. Her early work focused on perinatal mental health and specifically examined the different manifestations and impact of anxiety disorders in pregnancy. She explored the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in pregnant women with prior pregnancy complications and the effect of pregnancy, childbirth, and menstruation on the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Her exploration of the role of reproductive hormones in the presentation of psychiatric disorders led to her current research developing novel interventions for the treatment of substance use disorders in pregnancy and postpartum.
She published the first study to examine pregnancy-related abstinence and postpartum relapse into substance use prospectively. As a principal investigator (PI) and co-investigator on several federally funded grants, she has developed and implemented addiction and mental health treatment interventions. Some of her work includes a National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded study on the use of progesterone as a postpartum smoking relapse prevention treatment, a National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)-funded research testing an innovative technique using smartphones to administer attentional bias modification for smoking-related cues as a postpartum relapse prevention intervention for Black and Hispanic perinatal women, and a Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)-funded clustered randomized trial evaluating the effectiveness of two models for providing support to obstetricians caring for pregnant and postpartum women with an opioid use disorder across 12 sites in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Medical Research Interests
Clinical Care
Overview
Ariadna Forray, MD, is a psychiatrist who treats medical and surgical patients at Yale New Haven Hospital who have psychiatric needs. She specializes in psychiatric and substance-use disorders in unique and complex patient populations that include pregnant and postpartum women, and adults living with sickle cell disease.
One of the few psychiatrists in the U.S. with expertise in mental health issues in patients with sickle cell disease, Dr. Forray was recruited in 2012 as the psychiatry director of a newly developed, interdisciplinary Yale Medicine Adult Sickle Cell Program, which successfully transitioned care from high-cost inpatient and emergency care to integrated outpatient services, and led to improved care and services.
Dr. Forray also has a keen interest in mental health in women across the reproductive lifespan, which she says was inspired by an experience during her residency, when a patient was transferred to the ICU following an intentional overdose. “This was a 30-year-old postpartum woman, who in the two months following the birth of her first child had attempted suicide twice and failed three different medication trials with seven different medications,” Dr. Forray says. “When I met her, I was struck by how much she was suffering—she was restless, she couldn’t sleep, she was extremely anxious, and ruminated over her baby’s well-being to a degree that was unhealthy.” The case inspired her to learn more about why only some postpartum women develop mental health issues, what role hormones might play, and how such struggles might impact a newborn infant. “It was this curiosity combined with the desire to help women during this vulnerable period of their life that defined my path in psychiatry,” she says.
In addition to her other roles, Dr. Forray is the director of the Center for Well-being of Women and Mothers, a reproductive psychiatry research program at Yale, where she studies novel treatments for perinatal substance use. She is currently working on a study that is evaluating two models to help obstetrical providers deliver substance-use treatment to pregnant women with an opioid use disorder across 12 sites in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Clinical Specialties
Fact Sheets
Quit Smoking
Learn More on Yale Medicine
Board Certifications
Addiction Medicine (Preventive Medicine)
- Certification Organization
- AB of Preventive Medicine
- Original Certification Date
- 2019
Addiction Medicine
- Certification Organization
- AB of Addiction Medicine
- Original Certification Date
- 2012
News
News
- August 22, 2026Source: NBC Connecticut (with Ariadna Forray, MD)
What is Postpartum Psychosis? Lindsay Clancy Trial Puts Rare Condition in Focus
- June 02, 2026Source: Connecticut Public Radio
For Moms Struggling with Postpartum Depression, CT Hotline is a Lifeline
- April 14, 2026Source: Yahoo News (with Ariadna Forray, MD)
'Matrescence' Explained: The Big Life Shift Some New Moms Don't Expect
- March 23, 2026Source: Vox (with Dr. Ariadna Forray)
The Ugly Emotion Pregnant People Aren't Supposed to Talk About