What are perinatal mood disorders?
Perinatal mood disorders include an array of mood disorders that can affect women during their pregnancy and within the first year after delivery. It is estimated that between 8 and 20% of women will experience a perinatal mood disorder during their childbearing years in the United States, as well as around the world. The rate of depression of women in their first trimester of pregnancy is similar to the rate of depression in women who are not pregnant. This number doubles during the second and third trimester. We also now know that 50% of women who experience depression during pregnancy will also have depression during the postpartum period.
Postpartum depression or PPD are most commonly used to describe mood changes after a woman has a baby. However, postpartum depression is not the only disorder that women experience during the perinatal period. There are other disorders such as postpartum psychosis and anxiety disorders that also occur during this time. The term ‘perinatal mood disorders’ includes all of these illnesses.
