Experts shed light on diagnosing and treating postpartum-onset OCD.

OBSESSIVE-compulsive disorder; WOMEN'S mental health; PERINATAL mood & anxiety disorders; MOTHER-infant relationship; MENTAL depression; PSYCHOSES

In a recent review in the "Archives of Women's Mental Health," researchers from Harvard Medical School suggest that based on existing data in the literature, the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is common in women in the period following childbirth. Although not as frequently studied as other postpartum psychiatric disorders, such as depression and psychosis, postpartum-onset OCD left undiagnosed and untreated may negatively affect both the mother and the infant. Although the etiology of postpartum-onset psychiatric disorders is not known, it has been suggested that hormonal changes along with the psychological stress of having to care for a newborn may be triggering factors.