A guide to psychiatric prescribing in pregnancy, postpartum and breastfeeding

Perinatal psychopharmacology is an emerging specialty that is gradually developing alongside perinatal psychiatry. The management of psychiatric disorders during the perinatal period is a challenge for per-inatal practitioners due to the multiple changes occurring during this crucial period. This little-known specialty still suffers from inappropriate considerations on the impact of psychotropic treatments on the mother and the infant during pregnancy and postpartum, which can promote a deficiency in perinatal psychic care. However, the risks associated with insufficient management of mental health are major, impacting both the mental and physical health of the mother and the infant. In this paper, we propose a perinatal psychopharmacology prescription guide based on available scientific evidence and internatio-nal and national recommendations. We thus propose a decision-making process formalized on simple heuristics in order to help the clinician to prescribe psychotropic drugs during the perinatal period. (c) 2022 L'Ence ' phale, Paris.