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Postpartum Adjustment: What Is Normal and What Is Not

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Women's Reproductive Mental Health Across the Lifespan

Abstract

During pregnancy and the postpartum, a woman’s body must make extraordinary physical, biochemical, and hormonal adjustments. These physiological changes occur in concert with profound psychological experiences as women make the transition to motherhood. Most women do not suffer from significant mental health issues after giving birth. Although 80 % of women experience the baby blues, these symptoms quickly resolve by 2 weeks postpartum and are not considered a serious problem that requires medical intervention. For other women, however, this transition is more emotionally and psychologically challenging and can be a period of more serious mood and anxiety symptoms. This chapter reviews postpartum depression and anxiety, including the phenomenology, risk factors, and treatment options. In particular obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder, often overlooked, but not uncommon conditions are reviewed in detail.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Menninger Department of Psychiatry Baylor College of Medicine, Medical Director Center for Reproductive Psychiatry The Pavilion for Women, Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX, USA

    Lucy J. Puryear M.D.

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  1. Lucy J. Puryear M.D.
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Correspondence to Lucy J. Puryear M.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Center for Postpartum Health, Sherman Oaks, California, USA

    Diana Lynn Barnes

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Puryear, L.J. (2014). Postpartum Adjustment: What Is Normal and What Is Not. In: Barnes, D. (eds) Women's Reproductive Mental Health Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05116-1_6

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