Maternal Mental Health and Peripartum Depression

Maternal mental health (MMH) and peripartum depression (PPD) are considered as a major public health concern. PPD and peripartum mental illness (PMI) has been recognized since the fifth century BCE by Hippocrates. Peripartum, instead of perinatal, is the term internationally standardized today. Peripartum means “relating to the time immediately before and after birth”. It is a critical period in a woman’s life. A wider definition stretches the peripartum from preconception and pregnancy up to 1 year after delivery. During this period women experience several and significant normal or pathological physiological, hormonal, emotional and social changes. Peripartum vulnerability to mental disorders is now a well-known fact. It is hypothesized that this is due to both biological (hormonal), psychological and environmental (social) aspects. Teasing out each mechanism, knowing that they most certainly interact to buffer or potentiate each other is complex. We are currently unable to understand the exact processes involved and can only try to describe evidence-based heightened/lowered risk/protection factors and current state-of-the-art care.