NICE (the National Institute for Health Clinical Excellence) has unveiled new guidelines on the care of pregnant women and new mothers with mental health issues.
It is estimated that the number of women who suffer a mental health disorder during pregnancy or in the first 12 months after the birth of their baby, could be as high as one in every seven. Yet until now, identifying problems and addressing them has not been treated with across-the-board recommendations to all health professionals.
These guidelines break new ground in their recommendations on identifying, treating and managing all mental health disorders during this period of a woman's life. The disorders include anxiety-related problems, depression, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and compulsive obsessive disorder.
The NICE website has some excellent detail on this issue on its website, www.nice.org.uk.
