Key content
Postpartum psychosis is a severe mental illness with a dramatic onset shortly after childbirth.
All women should be screened antenatally for the known risk factors.
Women with bipolar disorder have at least a 1 in 4 risk and need close contact and review during the perinatal period even if they are well.
Prompt recognition of the illness and rapid institution of treatment are of vital importance.
Learning objectives
To recognise women at high risk for severe postpartum mental illness.
To recognise and appreciate the severity of postpartum psychosis and the need for prompt assessment and treatment.
Ethical issues
Who should ultimately make decisions about taking medications in pregnancy – the clinician or the woman and her family?
What advice should a woman at high risk of postpartum psychosis be given if she is considering pregnancy?
Objectives. The aim of the current study was to assess the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of a newly developed Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) intervention developed specifically to address the unique context of pregnancy and parenthood. The intervention was delivered to women accessing a specialist Perinatal Community Mental Health Service (PCMHS). Design. An open-label pilot study was conducted of an 8-week, group-delivered ACT intervention targeting women with moderate-to-severe mood and/or anxiety disorders during pregnancy and/or postpartum. Methods. Outcomes included session attendance rates, dropout rates, crisis/inpatient service use, and standardized symptom scales. Participant's responses to open-ended questions containedin an end of therapy questionnairewereanalysedusing thematic analysis. Results. Seventy-four women were referred to the intervention with 65 (88%) completing treatment. The median number of sessions attended was 7. No women required input from crisis/inpatient services. All reported finding the intervention helpful. The implementation of ACT in daily life, therapist support, and group processes were cited as helpful aspects of the intervention. At post-treatment, there was a significant reduction in global distress (d = 0.99) and depressive symptoms (d = 1.05), and an increase in psychological flexibility (d = 0.93). On the secondary outcome of global distress, 38% of women were classified as recovered, 31% had reliably improved, 27% remained the same, and 4% had reliably deteriorated. Conclusions. The delivery of ACT in a routine practice setting is feasible, safe, and effective. A randomized control trial (RCT) is needed to establish the efficacy and costeffectiveness of this group-delivered ACT intervention. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Purpose
This review articulates current understanding of the aesthetic, artistic and creative contributions that Dance makes to Health and Wellbeing across the lifecourse within publications 2000–2019, an under-researched area.
Methods
Review Questions: What are the aesthetic, artistic and creative contributions that Dance makes to Health and Wellbeing across the lifecourse? And what methodologies are appropriate for investigating these contributions? A database keyword search identified 769 articles and 91 evaluations. 109 documents were identified for further in-depth analysis and rating, resulting in 24 papers (11 articles, 3 PhD studies, 10 evaluation reports), which were thematically analysed.
Results
Findings offer seven interrelated contributions that Dance makes to Health and Wellbeing: embodiment, identity, belonging, self-worth, aesthetics, affective responses and creativity. There was less insight regarding different methodologies, and discussions focused on quantitative data’s limitations. There were insights into inclusion of embodied voices, subjective accounts, and lived experiences.
Conclusion
Whilst acknowledging challenges, this paper illuminates the key contributions of dance to arts and health. It provides a future conceptual research agenda (prioritizing identity and creativity) and associated methodological developments. It recommends expanding geographical/lifecourse research, better defining terms, fuller epistemological critiques to open space for new methodologies, and continued attendance to appropriate rigour criteria.
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