Abstract

Context: The transition to motherhood brings about significant psychological and biological changes, making both pregnancy and the postpartum period are particularly susceptible to health challenges. Mental health issues during this time have often been neglected within the realm of reproductive health, despite their substantial contribution to the global burden of illness and disability. These conditions are associated with a range of symptoms including abnormally high or low mood, irritability, disturbed sleep, hallucinations/delusions, and occasionally suicidal or infanticidal ideation, if not treated promptly, they can substantially impact upon the mother’s health, mother-infant bonding, and family dynamics.  Aim: To study psychiatric morbidity in women during postpartum period.  Settings and Design: Hospital based cross sectional study.  Methods and Material: This is an observational, hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted on postpartum women visiting immunization clinic for first immunization of their babies within 6 weeks of delivery, who fulfil the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The sample size estimated is 100. Assessment tools used are Predesigned questionnaire, Edinburgh postnatal depression scale, BPRS and HAM A.  Statistical analysis used: The data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 29. Continuous and categorical variables have been presented as mean ± standard deviation and percentages respectively.  Results: The population studied tends to be younger (mean age of 27.4+5), predominantly from rural areas (65%), and with limited educational attainment (71% either illiterate or with only primary education) and majority come from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Psychiatric morbidity is mainly in the form of depression (31%) followed by anxiety (17%) with very low prevalence of psychosis (3%). This population appears to face socio-economic and educational disadvantages, but in our study no statistical significance was found between variants like socio economic status, religion and psychiatric morbidity.   Conclusions: The study found that postpartum psychiatric morbidity, particularly depression (31%) and anxiety (17%), is common, while psychosis is rare (3%). No significant   association was observed between psychiatric morbidity and socio-demographic factors like socio-economic status or religion. These findings highlight the need for broader mental health support for postpartum women, regardless of socio-demographic backgrounds. A larger sample size with prospective assessment is recommended to validate these results.

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