Does Pregnancy And Childbirth Increase My Risk For Developing Bipolar Disorder?

— -- Question: Does pregnancy and childbirth increase my risk for developing bipolar disorder?

Answer: So, pregnancy and childbirth don't increase your risk of bipolar disorder. Interesting enough, pregnancy, in and of itself, is generally considered to be protective of bipolar disorder and the worsening of bipolar symptoms.

So it's fairly common that people in the late stages of pregnancy don't actually need as much medication or any medication to control their bipolar symptoms.

The risk is in the postpartum period -- so immediately after childbirth, that sometimes the worsening of the depressive symptoms or a worsening of the bipolar symptoms, in general, can occur.

So it would be more sensitive to be prepared around the childbirth period than the actual pregnancy, itself.

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