title: A review assessing the current treatment strategies for postnatal psychological morbidity with a focus on post-traumatic stress disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to conduct a systematic review of randomised controlled trials investigating the efficacy of treatments used to manage postnatal psychological morbidity.
  
  
  METHODS
  a systematic review was conducted of studies in English published from 1995 to 2011. Studies were included in the review if they were randomised controlled trials and had extractable data on symptoms of psychological morbidity after an intervention designed to manage the disorders in postnatal women. Eight studies met the criteria and were included in the review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the number of participants ranged from 58 to 1745. The interventions included group and individual counselling, debriefing and expressive writing. Authors of only three studies reported fewer symptoms of PTSD after the intervention. Those that appeared to be helpful were counselling and expressive writing. However most authors did not assess pre-existing PTSD.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the review revealed that there was no standardised scale used for diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder across the studies and no single efficacious treatment. A universal instrument for diagnosis of postnatal post-traumatic stress disorder is required. The intrapartum relationship with midwives appears to be an important contributor to prevention of PTSD and this requires further investigation.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health, Education and Society, Plymouth University, Wellington Road, Taunton, United Kingdom. rutspeeler@plymouth.ac.uk
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Peeler
authors.forename: Man C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Jacqui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stedmon
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Skirton
mesh_terms: D057186:Comparative Effectiveness Research; D003419:Crisis Intervention; D037001:Directive Counseling; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020380:Needs Assessment; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011580:Psychological Techniques; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D016896:Treatment Outcome