Background: Pregnancy and postpartum are a period of vulnerability in a women’s life for developing mental health problems. Perinatal psychiatric illness has various adverse outcome on maternal, neonatal and child health.
Objective: To study the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and its outcome among women in the perinatal period.
Method: It is a prospective study conducted at a tertiary care hospital where antenatal and postnatal women were screened for psychiatric disorder using patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Edinburgh Post Natal Depression Scale (EPDS) respectively. Total of 140 women diagnosed with psychiatric disorder were followed up for a year and outcome noted.
Results: Depression (62.7%) was the most common psychiatric disorder seen in the antenatal (62.7%) and postpartum period (80%). More than 70% of the women who had psychiatric problems during antenatal care (76.3%) and postnatal period (71.6%) who were treated with psychotherapy had recovered within 12 months.
Conclusion: Comprehensive modality that includes obstetric care by early screening and psychiatric care by diagnosis and treatment, is required for optimal psychological and physical health of a women during the period of pregnancy and postpartum
