ABSTRACT
Approximately 13% of childbearing women experience nonpsychotic postpartum depression (O’Hara & Swain, 1996). Postpartum depression is distinct from postpartum blues and postpartum psychosis as the former is less severe and more common with prevalence rates ranging from 26% to 85%, while the latter is quite severe and uncommon with a prevalence rate of about 0.2% (O’Hara, 1991). Postpartum blues is a mild dysphoria occurring within the first week postpartum and lasting from a few hours to several days. On the other end of the range of postpartum mood disturbance is postpartum psychosis, usually involving hallucinations or delusions and requiring hospitalization. This chapter focuses on postpartum depression, the mood disorder that clinicians are most likely to encounter in postpartum women who are self-referred or physician-referred for outpatient treatment.
