Biomarkers of Postpartum Psychiatric Disorders

Book excerpt: Biomarkers of Postpartum Psychiatric Disorders provides an up-to-date reference on the current research relating to biomarkers in psychiatric disorders, including major depressive disorder, OCD and bipolar disorder in the immediate postpartum time-period. It is the only reference on the market that synthesizes and interprets available data and reviews clinical phenotypes. Topics cover hormonal contributions, immunology, epigenetics and neuroimaging. While the risk of psychiatric illness during pregnancy appears to be equivalent to the risk at any other time in a woman's life, the risk in the immediate postpartum time period is dramatically increased, hence the importance of the discussions in this title. - Identifies epigenetic, hormonal, immunological and neuroimaging biomarkers - Provides biomarkers for depression, OCD and psychosis - Includes clinical phenotypes for psychiatric disorders - Discusses future research and directions in the field