“It’s just hormones”: A systematic review for the symptoms and characteristics of Postpartum Psychosis

There is no current consensus on where PPP best aligns in terms of other psychological disorders. The question of whether PPP constitutes a distinct disorder or if it should be characterised by bipolar disorder/brief psychotic disorder etc, is contentious (Sharma et al., 2022). It has been suggested that the pattern and nature of PPP more strongly aligns with affective mood disorders, namely bipolar disorders, as opposed to an organic brief psychotic disorder (Bergink et al., 2015). To date, there have been no rigorous attempts to classify and organise the psycho-structural elements of PPP like other psychological disorders. Kamperman et al. (2017) explored the phenotypical characteristics and proposed three symptom profiles via a clinical cohort study (Manic, Depressive and Atypical). Sharma et al. (2022) conducted what they called a selective appraisal of the literature on phenomenology, nosology and treatment of PPP and found that there is a lack of consensus about the diagnostic criteria for PPP. Perry et al. (2021) also conducted a review on the phenomenology, epidemiology and aetiology, finding no universally accepted definition of PPP and called for the nosology to be further researched. To understand the nosology of PPP, the symptomology and characteristics need to be well defined.