Sleep and Perinatal Psychiatric Disorders

This book provides an up-to-date overview of sleep disturbance in perinatal psychiatric disorders. There is accumulating scientific evidence that psychiatric illnesses, such as anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, can begin or recur during the peripartum period. However, the general lack of awareness of their common occurrence, coupled with an exclusive focus on screening for perinatal depression, may lead to their underdiagnosis or misdiagnosis. This book intends to create an awareness of the ubiquity of sleep loss and insomnia in the peripartum period and its potential role in the onset and exacerbation of various psychiatric disorders.

Divided into five sections, the book’s first section is a discussion of adverse pregnancy, delivery, and fetal outcomes of prenatal psychiatric disorders. Section II describes the effect of common peripartum psychiatric disorders—including mood and anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder—on sleep and vice versa. The three chapters of Section III deal with the screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and prevention of peripartum psychiatric disorders. Section IV focuses on the pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment of peripartum insomnia and the effect of breastfeeding on maternal sleep. The concluding section discusses the importance of targeting sleep loss and insomnia in the treatment of various psychiatric disorders during and after pregnancy.

Sleep and Perinatal Psychiatric Disorders: A Comprehensive Guide for Clinicians and Researchers will be a valuable resource for clinicians of various backgrounds including psychiatrists, psychologists, primary care providers, internal medicine physicians, sleep medicine specialists, and obstetricians. Due to its focus on recent advances in research and new directions in the field, the book will also appeal to researchers.

Dr. Verinder Sharma is Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. He runs a busy perinatal clinic and works in an ambulatory care clinic that specializes in the management of treatment-resistant mood disorders. His research interests include perinatal psychiatric disorders, bipolar disorder, and treatment-resistant depression. He has regularly contributed to the section on the management of bipolar disorder during pregnancy and postpartum in the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) and International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) guidelines. More recently, he co-authored a position paper on insomnia evaluation and treatment by the European Insomnia Network task force, the Italian Marcé society and international task force for perinatal mental health. He is a member of the Committee on Women’s Health, ISBD.

Laura Palagini MD, PhD is a psychiatrist and sleep medicine expert at the Psychiatric Clinic, University Hospital of Pisa, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Pisana AUOP coordinator of the “Insomnia Clinic”. In 1998-2000 she was a Research Assistant, Department of Psychiatry, Sleep Laboratory, University of Davis, California, USA. In 2004 she concluded her PhD at the University of Pisa, Italy. Prof. Palagini earned degrees in Cognitive Behavioural therapy for insomnia, Philadelphia (USA); Sleep Medicine expert, Cambridge (UK); Expert in Sleep Medicine –Italian Association of Sleep Medicine. She served as a member of the board of The Italian Association of Sleep Medicine (AIMS) 2015-2022 and was elected in the new board starting from 2025. She was a member of the Board of the Sleep Research Society (SRS) (TEAC committee) 2014-2017 and currently serves as Member of the committee for the “World Sleep Day” World Sleep Association (WSA).  She is a member of the task force “Sleep and Women” of the European insomnia network, Member of the European CBT-I Academy, European Sleep Research Society. Prof. Palagini is a recipient of several awards in the sleep field. She has been in the scientific committee of more than 250 courses and meetings about sleep disturbances and mental health, and she has been invited as a speaker at more than 250 national and international meetings. She has authored more than 200 scientific contributions and more than 20 chapters and book contributions in the field of sleep, insomnia, and mental health.