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hardship to no t only one, but tw o ve r y "de l i c a t e" individuals.
I n r ecent t Imes , t he r e has been a l o t of a t t ention paid to
puerperal psychiatric disorders e s pe c i ally in the wes ter n
wo r l d. The l iterature today from the developed nations
i nc l ud es many articles describing its i ncidence, types, a nd
ide ntified contributory conditions [ 2 2 3- 2 26 ) .
The t h r e e commonly occurring psychiatric d isor ders noted
after childbirth include third day blues, postpartum
depz-easLcn , and puerperal psychosis [43]. Third day blues is
a transient condition lasting less than one week . It affects
about 70 to 80t of mothers be tween the th i r d to six.th
postpartum days and is characterised by emotional l a b il i t y
[43 ,227] . Depressive illness, f ollowi ng child birth has be a n
- a
identified as the most frequently occurring disorder and t hp­
r eported incidences i n the developed world ra nge b e t we e n 2 to
20 pe r cent [224,228-230]. Puerperal o r postpar tum psychosis is
the severest and most incapacitating mental disorder. The
incidences r ep o r t e d in Europe and North America r a nge between
1 t o 2 .5 per 1000 births [223,225, 231,237.] .
That pregnancy and delivery are s tressful times could by
t hemse lves explain the i ncreased incidence of puerperal mental
di s ord e r s . Resu l ts o f s ome s t udies however also indicate that
t he horm o nal c ha nges in pregnancy a nd t he pue r pe rium ma y be a n
impor tant c on t r i butor y f actor (2'33,234 ) . Ps ychiat r i c disease
f o l lowi ng mol a r pregnancy has be e n reported [235]. An