Perinatal mental health conditions

The guideline covers screening and treatment for women or birthing parents who are at risk of, or experiencing, a mental health condition during pregnancy or within the year following childbirth. The conditions covered include:

• anxiety disorders - including generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, psychological birth trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder
• mood disorders - including depression and bipolar affective disorder
• postpartum psychosis and management of psychosis
• borderline personality disorder

Who this guideline is for

The guideline will be of interest to those working with pregnant and postnatal women and birthing parents across primary care, secondary care, social care and the third sector.

 Recommendations

The guideline provides recommendations on:

• screening tools
• care planning
• psychosocial and psychological therapies
• efficacy and safety advice on the use of pharmaceutical therapies.

Supporting material

An app with recommendations and screening tools for use by health and social care professionals is available here.

A toolkit providing information for women and birthing parents, and their partners, is available here.

How this guideline was developed

This guideline is based on recommendations from the Centre of Perinatal Excellence (COPE): Mental Health Care in the Perinatal Period: Australian Clinical Practice guideline, 2023. Details of the methodology used are in section 9 of the guideline.

Keeping up to date

This guideline was published in 2023 and will be considered for review in three years.