Bipolar Today

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A new study published in the journal has linked acute postpartum symptoms with later diagnoses of bipolar disorder. Acute postpartum symptoms include severe depression or even psychosis and affect about 0.1% of new mothers. The study took place in Denmark, and studied 120,000 new mothers who received psychiatric treatment for postpartum symptoms. Of those who had their first psychiatric episode within the month after childbirth, fourteen percent were eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. This is four times the rate of bipolar disorder among those mothers who had their first psychiatric episode under other circumstances. The study was a epidemiological study that examined women who had received psychiatric care since 1970. More information about the study can be found at Mother Nature Network here, and the original study can be found here.

Commentary

As bipolar disorder is known to cause acute postpartum symptoms, it is not surprising in turn that women with acute postpartum symptoms are likely to eventually be found to have bipolar disorder. As the article warns, this study does not demonstrate that acute postpartum symptoms cause bipolar disorder; the causation could easily be the other way around.

What is surprising, though, is the rate of women who had their first psychiatric episode in the first month after childbirth who were eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. What this seems to indicate is that childbirth can easily be a trigger for the onset (the first episode) of bipolar disorder in women. Women who have a history of bipolar disorder in their family should be especially alert for psychiatric symptoms after childbirth.

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