Abstract
Objective: To assess the occurrence and severity of bipolar disorder in third trimester pregnant and postpartum women.
Methodology: This cross sectional study was carried out on 164 third trimester pregnant and postpartum women who had positive score on Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), which was used for screening. Data were collected from Haq Clinic, Rawalpindi. SPSS version 23.0 was used to compute results.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 26.82 years. However, 21.1% occurrence of bipolar disorder has been estimated in TTP and 30.5% in PPW. Findings of the study further reveals the significant (**p < .05) differences among TTP and PPT, between groups of employed and unemployed and in category of sample with and without family or personal history of major depressive and bipolar disorder
Conclusion: There was high occurrence of bipolar disorder in third trimester pregnant and postpartum women. Mostly, it is under-diagnosed or misdiagnosed. Timely intervention is needed by healthcare providers for proper management of this disorder.
