Puerperal psychosis is any manic or other psychotic illness suffered by a woman, which begins in the first 6 weeks after she has given birth to a child. If a woman suffers manic symptoms, she will seem very excited and elated. She will often talk very fast, not completing sentences and jumping from 1 topic to another. She may be overactive, not sleeping and rushing from one task to another. She may be bossy and demanding and become angry and aggressive if crossed.
Some sufferers become severely depressed or have both manic and depressive phases.
Other psychotic symptoms include hallucinations, that is seeing or hearing things which are not there and delusions such as believing their baby is the Messiah or that people are trying to harm her. Puerperal psychosis is not included as a category within the official systems of classification used by psychiatrists. Puerperal Psychosis is also referred to as postpartum psychosis or postnatal psychosis. It is very hard to generalise about treatment, as this will depend on the nature and severity of particular symptoms. Also some people respond to particular treatments better than others.