This title is directed primarily towards health care professionals outside of the United States. It takes a comprehensive look at the issues surrounding mental illness and pregnancy. Describing common disorders and their relationship with pregnancy, it promotes an understanding of the issues involved and offers tools to providing the most effective woman-centred maternity care. All health professionals concerned with the wellbeing of the pregnant woman will find invaluable help and guidance in this book. Given the identification of mental health problems as a leading cause of maternal death (CEMD 2001), this is an essential guide to the effects of pregnancy and childbirth on women and families coping with mental illness.