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 are unleashed as complications, many fall under the heading of 'psychoses' - profound disturbances of thought, perception, cognition and behaviour. These psychoses disrupt personal and family 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 postpartum and menstrual psychoses, with suggestions for fresh research initiatives. Armed with this comprehensive knowledge and wielding a raft of interventions, many women can be restored to health 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 is essential reading for psychiatrists, obstetricians and gynaecologists, midwives, general practitioners, neuroscientists and related professions worldwide.

This volume aims to display the great variety of disorders which can occur during pregnancy and the post-partum period, which make childbearing the most complex psychological event in human experience. It provides a comprehensive summary of knowledge on the subject, set in a historical context, as a foundation for research. It sets out to show how distressed mothers can be helped in many ways and restored to mental health.