ABSTRACT

In the western world, postpartum depression (PDR) is estimated to affect 10-15% of women giving birth. It represents a major public health problem, considering the subjective suffering of the woman and her family, as well as the limitations and direct and indirect costs due to the impairment of her personal, social and occupational functioning. The disorder also interferes with the woman's ability to establish an interchange of behaviour and emotions with her newborn child, which is recognised as essential for an effective mother-child relationship, capable of preventing long-term consequences on the child's cognitive, social and emotional development.
The literature review shows that most of the risk factors for PDR are already identifiable in the previous personal, family and social history of expectant mothers.
This underlines and reinforces the importance of screening for PDR already during pregnancy, in order to intercept as early as possible the signs of psychological distress and to implement a preventive intervention that would be even more effective, compared to taking care of the woman only from the post-partum period. This screening therefore represents an important secondary prevention tool, in which it is important to hypothesise an obstetrical approach and assess the timing, tools and places of intervention.
In order to implement a truly effective preventive intervention, it is therefore not enough to limit oneself to merely looking for manifestations of discomfort occurring in the post-partum period, but it is important to identify the warnings that occur already during pregnancy and to identify in the midwife a central figure for the prevention of maternal depression, a resource in which to invest so that she is made more competent in the identification and management of any psychological disorders