Postpartum mental illness linked to later bipolar disorder

By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times
December 5, 2011, 2:19 p.m.

Childbirth can trigger psychiatric illnesses in some women, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder and even psychosis. A study published Monday, however, draws the first connection ever between postpartum mental illness and later bipolar disorder.

Researchers searched a Danish registry of more than 120,000 women receiving treatment for a first episode of a psychiatric illness other than bipolar disorder. They found 3,062 women who had a first episode of a mental disorder other than bipolar disorder but who were later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

The analysis showed that the women who reported having symptoms of mental illness within two weeks of childbirth were more than three times as likely to be diagnosed later with bipolar disorder compared to women whose first episode of mental illness was not in the postpartum period. About 14% of the women with a first-time psychiatric problem that occurred just after childbirth went on to develop bipolar disorder within 15 years. FULL STORY

I thought this was common knowledge. That's sure what the deal is with my wife. We have been dealing with this for 24 years now.