Personality disorder and mental health in the perinatal period

The act of giving birth has the capacity to precipitate extreme emotional reactions in some women, with parturition shown to be a risk factor for developing psychiatric illness (Brockington, 1996; Paradice, 2002). Statistically 1–20 per cent of all newly delivered mothers experience postnatal mental health problems (Peindl, 2005; Royal College of midwives, 2007; Yonkers et al., 2001). Among this faction are a cohort with pre-existing psychiatric disorders (Knightly, 2008), some of whom have a personality disorder