Perinatal Depression

It is actually well known that pregnancy and the postpartum period represent a specific time of life for women when vulnerability to present a mental illness is high; this can also be triggered by stress due to baby care. The World Health Organization considers perinatal depression a global problem, including the effects of maternal health, in terms of mortality and morbidity, on the newborn. This book has been inspired by the clinical practice of authors involved in its creation. It concerns perinatal depression starting from its genetic background, describing clinical features of this disorder, taking into consideration the impact of perinatal depression on child development during first years of life. We know that an altered gestational uterine environment due to psychiatric disorders or stress exposure can cause permanent consequences in offsprings, thus prevention and care of this disorder is mandatory. A chapter has been dedicated to pharmacological treatments during pregnancy and postpartum always considering the importance of a drug treatment when necessary to be chosen with respect to safety profile. Moreover a chapter has been entirely dedicated to maternal functioning, describing the Barkin Index of Maternal Functioning (BIMF), a self-report measure of postpartum maternal functioning assessing daily functioning within the context of the maternal role. A report of the available recent studies on this topic, although not comprehensive, is reported in this book.