Postpartum psychoses: closer to schizophrenia or the affective spectrum?

Abstract

Purpose of review This article will present a discussion of the phenomenology of postpartum psychoses. Recent findings Though research on postpartum mental disorders has expanded over the past years no consensus of definition has been obtained as yet. Both the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV and International Classification of Disease 10 do not allow sufficient classification of psychiatric diseases in the puerperium. Many surveys use these classification systems, but others define postpartum psychoses as the most severe syndrome of three distinct postnatal mood disorders. On the other hand, the dramatic changes in estrogen during the puerperium seem quite interesting in the context of recent research on schizophrenia. Summary Postpartum psychoses seem not to be a distinct diagnostic entity, but further research on phenomenology and epidemiology is needed. A revision of the classification systems in regard to mental disorders in the puerperium would facilitate science on postpartum psychoses.