The Psychoses of Menstruation and Childbearing

Description

Childbearing, from the standpoint of psychological medicine, is the most complex event in human experience. Of the dozens of disorders that affect the generative process, or areunleashed as complications, many fall under the heading of 'psychoses' - profound disturbances of thought, perception, cognition and behaviour. These psychoses disrupt personal andfamily life at a critical time. Reviewing the wide range of psychoses that complicate the reproductive process, Ian Brockington proposes radical changes to the concepts of postpartumand menstrual psychoses, with suggestions for fresh research initiatives. Armed with this comprehensive knowledge and wielding a raft of interventions, many women can be restored tohealth and their vital roles in the family and community. When the risk factors are known, multidisciplinary preventive strategies can transform the lives of vulnerable women. This isessential reading for psychiatrists, obstetricians and gynaecologists, midwives, general practitioners, neuroscientists and related professions worldwide.

• Provides a complete account of childbearing and menstrual psychoses, basedonover 3000 works in manylanguages
• Describes thecomplexity of thepsychoses of childbearing, includingmanyorganic and non-organicforms, toaid a better diagnosis and treatment
• Presentsovertwentydistinctforms of psychoses, offeringinsightsforfurtherresearch 

Table of contents

Foreword
Preface
List of abbreviations

Part I. Introduction:
1. Data
2. History

Part II. The Organic Psychoses of Pregnancy and the Puerperium:
3. Infective delirium
4. Eclamptic and Donkin psychoses
5. Wernicke–Korsakow psychosis
6. Chorea psychosis
7. Vascular disorders
8. Other specific neuropsychiatric disorders
9. Incidental organic psychoses

Part III. The Psychopathology of Parturition:
10. Introduction
11. Parturient delirium
12. Unconscious delivery
13. Acts of desperation
14. Other parturient psychoses
15. Delirium and stupor immediately after the birth

Part IV. Non-Organic Psychoses of Childbearing:
16. The literature
17. Symptoms
18. Classification
19. Clinical forms
20. Episode onset
21. The bipolar/cycloid group
22. Management
23. Risks

Part V. Menstrual Psychosis:
24. The catamenial process
25. Medicine and menstruation
26. Definition and classification
27. Timing within the menstrual cycle
28. Timing within the life cycle
29. Links with the psychoses of childbearing
30. Investigations
31. Causes
32. Management

Part VI. The Challenge and the Opportunity:
33. What is known
34. Impediments to the growth of knowledge
35. Research opportunities
Appendix: the Anne Roper interview

Index