If you are currently pregnant...

If you are currently pregnant and have had a previous postpartum psychosis or Bipolar episode that required hospital or home treatment, we would be delighted to hear from you.

In this research we hope to find out more about the factors that make some women more or less likely to experience episodes of illness in relation to childbirth.

The study will involve an interview in your own home during your pregnancy, during which we will ask if you would be willing to provide a small blood sample, and a telephone interview 3 months after childbirth asking about any symptoms you have experienced in relationship to pregnancy and childbirth.

We hope this Bipolar Disorder Research Network (BDRN) study will lead to better prediction and treatments for these episodes. If you would like further information or would like to take part, please email us:

email: moodresearch@worc.ac.uk

Research into causal factors of postpartum psychosis

If you have experienced an episode of postpartum psychosis that required hospital or home treatment we would be delighted to hear from you. This research aims to look at how genes and other factors (such as stressful life events) interact and make some people more likely than others to experience mood disorders and episodes of illness following childbirth.

Taking part in this Bipolar Disorder Research Network (BDRN) study will involve an interview in your own home asking you about your experience of having Postpartum Psychosis, giving a small blood sample and completing some questionnaires.

If you would like further information or would like to take part, please contact us:

email: moodresearch@worc.ac.uk

Menstrual Psychosis is closely allied to postpartum psychosis. Some mothers suffer from both disorders at different times in their lives, and some develop monthly relapses following a postpartum illness. It is much less common than PP, affecting only about 1 in 10,000 women.  Menstrual Psychosis is not the same as premenstrual syndrome, because its symptoms are delusions, mania, confusion, stupor or hallucinations, not depression or irritability. It is poorly recognised by psychiatrists, and many women do not get a correct diagnosis and the best treatment.

Professor Brockington (Founder and Patron of APP) has written a monograph (‘Menstrual Psychosis and the Catamenial Process’) summarising 80 well-established cases, and comparing it to the much commoner menstrual mood disorder (premenstrual tension) and other medical conditions affected by menstruation (for example diabetes, epilepsy and migraine). He would like to hear from anyone who has suffered from menstrual psychosis in order to set up a panel similar to APP. If you think you have experienced menstrual psychosis, please get in touch.