Dr. Barbara Hughes

Dr. Barbara Hughes is a board-certified psychiatrist with subspecialty expertise in child and adolescent psychiatry. She earned her medical degree from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed adult psychiatry residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center, followed by a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, where she developed expertise in the assessment and treatment of psychiatric disorders across development from early childhood through late adolescence.

Dr. Hughes provides comprehensive psychiatric evaluation and management for children and adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, early-onset psychotic disorders, and trauma and stressor-related conditions. She applies a biopsychosocial model that integrates pharmacological management with evidence-based psychological therapies — cognitive behavioural therapy, parent management training, and family therapy — delivered in collaboration with licensed psychologists and social workers.

She maintains an adult psychiatry practice with a particular focus on women's mental health across the reproductive lifespan, including perinatal mental health — the assessment and management of depression, anxiety, and psychosis during pregnancy and the postpartum period — premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and the psychiatric aspects of the menopausal transition. She collaborates closely with obstetrics and gynaecology to provide coordinated perinatal mental health care.

Dr. Hughes has published on antidepressant prescribing in adolescents and on the management of perinatal depression, appearing in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She serves as an advocate for improved access to child and adolescent mental health services and has been recognised with the University of Maryland's Community Service Award for her pro-bono psychiatric services to children in foster care. She is known for her gentle, child-friendly consultation style and her exceptional skill in engaging reluctant adolescent patients.