Recent Advances In Postpartum Psychiatric Disorders

Childbirth is one of the most important social and psychological life events for women. In addition to the social context of including a new family member, this period is highly associated with the occurrence or recurrence of psychiatric disorders. Psychiatric disorders during this period have some negative effects on children as well as functional impairments in mothers. The prevalence of psychiatric diagnosis -- especially depression and anxiety disorders -- is high in the postpartum period. Recently, there has been growing interest in psychiatric disorders in the perinatal period. This book summarizes classical information and recent advances regarding epidemiology, clinical features, pathogenesis, prognosis, the long-term effects on children, and treatments of psychiatric disorders during the postpartum period.

Many psychiatrists, obstetricians, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and other health care professionals have not been trained to adequately identify psychiatric disorders that present in postpartum women, and yet are often faced with patients expressing mental health symptoms that may lead to serious problems. Postpartum Mental Health Disorders: A Casebook offers brief, practical guidance on the recognition and management of postpartum mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders, posttraumatic stress disorders, personality disorders and eating disorders. Written by experienced clinicians, chapters are organized into collections of case examples and are designed to provide at-a-glance information about diagnoses, treatment, and outcomes with advice on when to refer to a specialist. Each chapter also includes an assessment tool to assist with diagnosis and a list of risk factors for developing postpartum disorders. An appendix of screening questionnaires is provided at the end of the book.

Biomarkers of Postpartum Psychiatric Disorders provides an up-to-date reference on the current research relating to biomarkers in psychiatric disorders, including major depressive disorder, OCD and bipolar disorder in the immediate postpartum time-period. It is the only reference on the market that synthesizes and interprets available data and reviews clinical phenotypes. Topics cover hormonal contributions, immunology, epigenetics and neuroimaging. While the risk of psychiatric illness during pregnancy appears to be equivalent to the risk at any other time in a woman’s life, the risk in the immediate postpartum time period is dramatically increased, hence the importance of the discussions in this title. Identifies epigenetic, hormonal, immunological and neuroimaging biomarkers Provides biomarkers for depression, OCD and psychosis Includes clinical phenotypes for psychiatric disorders Discusses future research and directions in the field

Clues which point toward the etiology of postpartum psychiatric illness and its appropriate treatment are spread over four continents and 150 years of history. James Alexander Hamilton and Patricia Neel Harberger decided that it was time to assemble the bits and pieces of information. Postpartum Psychiatric Illness: A Picture Puzzle is an exceptional work that presents a wealth of research and treatment considerations in this neglected field.

One in ten women suffers from an episode of significant depression following the birth of a baby. These depressions can have a profoundly negative effect on the quality of the mother infant relationship and, in turn, on the course of child development itself. The first book in a decade to deal exclusively with the impact of postpartum depression on child development, this groundbreaking volume brings together rigorous and sophisticated research from eighteen of the leading authorities in the field.

This guide has been developed jointly by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and is designed for use by all personnel involved in the care of pregnant women, their foetuses, and their neonates.