Anxiety disorders in the perinatal period

The perinatal period is a time of increased vulnerability for women to experience a relapse of a previous mental illness or the onset of a new episode of mental illness.

One of the most common mental health difficulties to present during the perinatal period are anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders are at least as common as depression in the perinatal period but are generally under-recognised and undertreated.

This module aims to support health professionals in correctly identifying anxiety disorders in the perinatal period so that effective and timely interventions can be offered. This module will focus on psychological therapies; pharmacological treatments will be covered in a follow-up module.

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you should be able to:

• identify the most common anxiety presentations in the perinatal period
• recognise the impact of untreated anxiety disorders in the perinatal period
• describe the common barriers to identification of anxiety disorders in the perinatal period
• outline the evidence-based treatments for anxiety disorders, and specific considerations for treatment in the perinatal period.

Availability

We are pleased to offer this module free for those without a paid subscription. If you are a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, you can log in straight away using the same username and password with which you access the members' area of the College website. Otherwise, all you need to do is register with the College.