Dear Colleagues,

Conception, pregnancy and postpartum are conditions that can lead to stress in women. In this way, maternal mental health problems (MMH) occurring during peripartum are a significant public health issue worldwide. The peripartum period is characterized by significant modifications in the immune and endocrine systems. Peripartum mood disorders in mothers and developmental disorders in their infants derive from multiple interactions between the immune, endocrine, nervous systems, culture and socio-environmental aspects. Some recent studies focusing on the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on peripartum mental health have observed that depression and anxiety significantly changed in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic.

This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of the most recent current perspectives, and to offer an opportunity for the development of existing knowledge in perinatal medicine and obstetric medicine as a pivotal component of women’s mental health. Since a lack of appropriate maternal–fetal care can increase the risk of negative mental health outcomes in both mother and infant, mental health care for perinatal women should foresee effective screening strategies and deliver targeted therapies and interventions to women, taking into account ethnicity, socioeconomic status, history of stressful life events, different clinical phenotypes and the severity of perinatal psychopathology.

The treatment of perinatal psychopathology can be challenging, and the most effective treatment strategies combine psychotherapy, medication and various social–cultural interventions (artistic dimensions included); however, the screening and early interception of psychiatric symptoms or psychological difficulties in pregnant women and their infants represents an important target in mothers’ perinatal depression, anxiety or psychosis, and in the prevention and care of young children’s developmental disorders.

Dr. Emanuele Caroppo
Dr. Marianna Mazza
Dr. Martina Sapienza
Guest Editors

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• perinatal psychopathology
• mother–child bonding
• postpartum depression
• peripartum women mental health
• artistic and cultural interventions and women perinatal mental health
• peripartum disorders
• gender violence and peripartum
• in vitro fertilization (IVF)
• women’s mental health