Women suffering from perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are still being failed by the healthcare system, according to experts who have been researching and campaigning on the issue for two decades. In a letter responding to recent coverage of Kimberley Nixon's experience, Fiona Challacombe, Diana Wilson and Maria Bavetta highlight persistent problems including lack of recognition, misdiagnosis, inappropriate safeguarding procedures, and difficulties accessing effective therapy.
The condition, which affects up to 7% of women in the postpartum period, involves vivid unwanted intrusive thoughts, images and urges of accidentally or deliberately harming one's infant. These symptoms can be hugely distressing and isolating, often leading women to feel like the worst mothers possible. In severe cases, women may feel that ending their lives is the only course of action.
While progress has been made since the expansion of perinatal mental health services in 2014, the experts note that Nixon's difficulty in accessing timely evidence-based intervention is still not exceptional. They call for screening for OCD at the six-week postnatal check and signposting to services, which they say could prevent unnecessary suffering and save lives.
The letter was signed by Fiona Challacombe, associate professor of clinical psychology at the University of Oxford and patron of Maternal OCD, and Diana Wilson and Maria Bavetta, co-founders of Maternal OCD.
