Understanding postpartum psychosis

Mothers at risk of developing this severe psychiatric disorder are being better supported due to the work of Professor Ian Jones of Cardiff University and his team.

Before giving birth to her daughter, Ella, Sally Wilson was totally unaware of a condition that would soon change her life.

Sally wasn’t surprised that her labour was painful but, as time went by, she became confused until she lost her grasp on time entirely. She became anxious and hardly slept. She began to hallucinate.

Sally was experiencing postpartum psychosis (PP), a severe psychiatric disorder affecting over 1,400 women in the UK each year. It is characterised by sudden onset and rapid deterioration of symptoms, such as delusions, confusion and severe mood swings, and can lead to severe illness and in rare but tragic cases, suicide.

But despite its seriousness, up until recently, there had been a lack of understanding about the causes behind it and how women could be better supported. Professor Ian Jones and his team have been working to change that.