Antenatal and postnatal mental health: summary of updated NICE guidance

Abstract

The bottom line This guideline is an update of the 2007 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline on antenatal and postnatal mental health.1 It covers a broad range of mental disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, drug and alcohol use disorders, and severe mental illness (such as psychosis, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and severe depression), which can all occur in the antenatal and postnatal periods. The guidance focuses on aspects of the identification and management of these disorders that are specific to this context. For example, women with bipolar disorder are at increased risk of a relapse in the early postpartum period, and postpartum psychoses (whether in women with bipolar disorder or not) are particularly rapid in onset and severe.2 These problems are managed differently during the antenatal and postnatal periods than at other times because of the impact that the mental disorder and its treatment (for example, the use of psychotropic drugs) can have on the fetus or baby.3 4 This article summarises the most recent recommendations from NICE on the clinical management …