Dr. Veerle Bergink, MD, PhD, a leading expert in perinatal psychiatry, shares how she began studying postpartum psychosis. She shares insights from her landmark cohort study and other work, discussing sleep disruption, immune and hormonal changes, and thyroid dysfunction as factors in postpartum psychosis. She also shares unanswered questions about psychosis and bipolar, including risk factors, biological triggers, and long-term outcomes including risks around menopause.

We discuss ideal care scenarios, the importance of specialized perinatal psychiatric care, and how supporting a parent’s mental health is central to caring for the baby. Dr. Bergink emphasizes the need to GET LOUD about awareness, research, and advocacy for mothers and families.

Resources:

• Make Postpartum Psychosis a Distinct Disorder in the DSM, Expert Panel Says
• Fussy Baby Network - 888-431-BABY
• MotherToBaby - 866-626-6847
• National Pregnancy Registry for Psychiatric Drugs

Citations:

1. Bergink, V., Akbarian, S., Byatt, N., Thippeswamy, H., Vigod, S., & Payne, J. (2025, October 2). Postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder: Review of Neurobiology and expert consensus statement on classification. - biological psychiatry. Biological Psychiatry.
2. Gordon-Smith, K., Perry, A., Florio, A. D., Craddock, N., Jones, I., & Jones, L. (2024, November 14). Associations between lifetime reproductive events among postmenopausal women with bipolar disorder - archives of Women’s Mental Health. SpringerLink.
3. Johnson, K. (2025, October 31). Make postpartum psychosis a distinct disorder, experts say. Medscape.
4. Valdimarsdóttir, U., Hultman, C. M., Harlow, B., Cnattingius, S., & Sparén, P. (2009, February 10). Psychotic illness in first-time mothers with no previous psychiatric hospitalizations: A population-based study. PLOS Medicine.