Diagnosis and management of post-partum disorders: a review

Abstract

This paper reviews the psychiatry of the puerperium, in the light of work published during the last eight years. Many distinct disorders are seen. In addition to various psychoses and a heterogeneous group of depressions, there are specific anxiety, obsessional and stress-related disorders. It is important to identify severe disorders of the mother-infant relationship, which usually respond to treatment, but have pernicious effects if untreated. The complexity of post-partum psychiatry requires the deployment of multidisciplinary specialist teams, which can handle the challenges of therapy, prevention, training, research and service development.