Adib Essali, Samer Alabed, Aisha Guul, Norah Essali

Postnatal psychosis is a worldwide life-threatening condition that affects one to two in every 1000 new mothers. It has an abrupt onset within a month of childbirth. Affected new mothers rapidly develop frank psychosis, cognitive impairment, and disorganised behaviours. Factors that increase the risk of postnatal psychosis include primiparous mothers who are single, women who are older, or with a past psychiatric history and family history of affective psychosis, prenatal depression and autoimmune thyroid dysfunction. The risk of a future postnatal recurrence is 25% to 57%. Preventive interventions for postnatal psychosis aim at identifying women with risk factors, early recognition of imminent psychosis through screening, and preventive drug therapy. Mood stabilisers, antipsychotic drugs and hormone therapy may be beneficial in the prevention of postnatal psychotic episodes in women at risk.