DSM-V: modifying the postpartum-onset specifier to include hypomania.
By failing to include it under the rubric of the postpartum-onset specifier, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-IV-TR has ignored the clinical reality that childbirth is a potent trigger of hypomania. Given the serious and occasionally tragic consequences of misdiagnosis of bipolar II depression as unipolar depression in the postpartum period, it is argued that DSM-V should consider modifying the postpartum-onset specifier to include episodes of hypomania.
Sharma
Verinder
V
Department of Psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. vsharma@uwo.ca
Burt
Vivien K
VK
D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D036801:Parturition; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy