“I TOOK THOSE PILLS BECAUSE I WAS CERTAIN MY CHILD WAS ABOUT TO DIE” – A CASE OF POSTPARTUM PSYCHOSIS (ID 1203)

Presentation Topic
AS58 Perinatal Disorders
Presenter
  • Maria Inês Lobo (Portugal)
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Abstract

Objectives

Postpartum psychosis is the least common but the most severe of all the mood disorders associated with childbirth, occurring in 1-2/1000 deliveries. Possible features include mania or mixed mood episode, depression, mood lability, anxiety, insomnia, perplexity, disorganization and psychotic symptoms. When the delusional ideation is present its content often relates to the child.

The aim of this presentation is to report a case of postpartum psychosis and the impact it has on everyone involved.

Methods

Description of a clinical case based on interviews and medical records, supported by a brief review on postpartum psychosis.

Results

A 37-year-old female with no psychiatric history was admitted to the emergency room after making a suicide attempt by ingesting pills. She had a 2-month-old baby girl, and she proclaimed her child was very sick and was going to die. These thoughts had started a month earlier. She would stay up all night to make sure the baby was breathing, would take her to medical appointments on a regular basis, would interpret everything the baby did as something was not right, and would not bound with her child because she did not want to get emotionally attached to her as she was convinced the baby was going to die.

Conclusions

This condition has an increased risk of maternal suicide and a potential impact on the development of the newborn.

Even though women with previous history of postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder are at a higher risk, about half of these women have no previous history of psychiatric disorders.

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