What are postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis?published at 15:26 BST<\/p>\n
15:26 BST<\/p>\n
Media caption, <\/p>\n
What is postpartum psychosis and why is it central in the Lindsay Clancy trial?<\/p>\n
Postpartum psychosis has become a key focus of the Clancy trial.<\/p>\n
Her defence argues she was suffering from it when she killed her children, while prosecutors argue she acted deliberately.<\/p>\n
Those who have just given birth can experience a range of psychiatric conditions, the most serious and life-threatening of which is postpartum psychosis.<\/p>\n
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) defines postpartum psychosis as a rare, serious mental health illness that should be treated as a medical emergency.<\/p>\n
Those who have it can experience mania and depression as well as psychotic symptoms, such as delusions and a disconnection from reality. In rare, severe cases, they may harm or kill themselves or other people.<\/p>\n
In the US, a major barrier to awareness and treatment of postpartum psychosis is that it remains unclassified in American medicine’s encyclopaedia of psychiatry.<\/p>\n
Postpartum psychosis is very different from postpartum blues, sometimes referred to as the “baby blues”, which affects around 85% of people who give birth and typically involves difficulty controlling emotions such as anxiety, sadness and anger, according to the Cleveland Clinic.<\/p>\n
Postpartum depression, meanwhile, is more serious than postpartum blues, with patients feeling many of the same symptoms but more intensely and for a longer period of time.<\/p>\n