Action on Postpartum Psychosis (APP)

24/03/2026

Next Monday is World Bipolar Day 2026.

Did you know? Women with bipolar disorder are at a higher risk of becoming unwell after giving birth. Postpartum psychosis occurs after approximately 25% of births to women with bipolar disorder.

We’re here to support you:
• Get guidance on planning pregnancy: https://ow.ly/Lr9i50Yyc2g
• Join one of our friendly online peer support café groups. We offer peer support for mental health challenges after postpartum psychosis, including for those with ongoing diagnoses such as bipolar disorder.

On , Bipolar UK is hosting a series of three free live webinars. Book your free place here: https://ow.ly/eFWY50Yyc2h

24/03/2026

Our research with women from Black backgrounds who have experienced postpartum psychosis shows more needs to be done to reach communities with information, to tackle stigma and self-stigma. Women describe barriers to accessing services. Health professionals and charities need to reach out to different communities in response to their unique challenges.

Our Peer Support Facilitators offer talks and presentations to community groups and health professionals and are keen to encourage more women from Black communities to access information about postpartum psychosis.

We are also looking to contact more health professionals who work in maternity services or perinatal mental health from Black communities to get involved in awareness-raising campaigns.

A psychiatrist or nurse who understands a community’s culture or faith will have a powerful impact in delivering our messages about what postpartum psychosis is and how women and their families can get help.

We have volunteers trained in peer support and they are keen to support more women, parents and families using their own personal experiences.

✉️ Anyone representing community or faith groups who would like to arrange for a talk from APP, or any maternity/perinatal mental health professionals who would like to get involved, email app@app-network.org.

💜 To find out more about peer support, please see here: https://ow.ly/9n7550QFVgC

24/03/2026

It’s normal to feel a whole range of emotions when you begin to recover from postpartum psychosis, including:
• Shock
• Embarrassment
• Why me?
• Anger
• Exhaustion
• Guilt
• Worry (bonding, your relationship, your future health)

In the early days after being diagnosed and/or receiving treatment in hospital, you may feel a sense of confusion about the events of your baby’s birth and your illness. Many mums find it hard to remember the exact sequence of events from becoming unwell to getting help.

You may also feel let down or unhappy about the way treatment was started, especially if you had to go to hospital under a section of the Mental Health Act. You may want to understand more about postpartum psychosis (PP), or you may not feel ready to deal with detailed information yet.

Some of these ideas can help:
• Ask your mental health team for a summary of events and your treatment.
• Talk to your partner or family about what happened – but some people find this very hard and need time to recover first.
• Write your story in a private diary.
• Use photos or memories to put together a timeline. This can help you look back on your baby’s first days, even though they weren’t how you expected them to be.
• Read other women’s stories – ask a friend to look on the APP website (www.app-network.org) and find encouraging stories for you. Be wary of internet searches before you feel ready, as some web content can be upsetting.
• Come to our peer support forum at www.app-network.org/pptalk or request one-to-one peer support from a volunteer who has recovered from PP.

Mums who have recovered from postpartum psychosis have shared their tips for the first year of recovery and beyond in the APP Insider Guide to Recovery.

Read it here: www.app-network.org/what-is-pp/app-guides, or get in touch and we can post you a free printed copy.

Artwork from an APP workshop 🌤️

23/03/2026

New mum seems strange? Seek help. It could be postpartum psychosis, a treatable medical emergency.

Help make an urgent appointment with their doctor, midwife, health visitor or call 111. If you think there is imminent danger, call 999.

With help they will recover.

23/03/2026

Could you display a poster about the signs and symptoms of postpartum psychosis where you work or in your community?

Perhaps you work at a clinic parents-to-be visit? Or, could take a poster to one near you?

Contact us for free printed A4 posters.
Email: app@app-network.org

22/03/2026

'You think 'I'll never get back to being a normal mum', but you will' - Sofii shares her experience: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yve15lvgko

22/03/2026

Repost BBC Wales News:
・・・
When Sofii Lewis packed a bag for a mother and baby mental health unit, she thought she would be home within a fortnight.

Instead, the 27-year-old spent five months there - time she said saved her and her daughter’s lives.

Diagnosed with OCD and postpartum psychosis tendencies after giving birth, Sofii said she had “no idea” how unwell she was.

“I knew I wasn’t safe. But I didn’t think I was out of control.”

22/03/2026

18/03/2026

Best practice care for postpartum psychosis: book an APP training session for your team.

APP training gives health professionals the vital skills and knowledge needed to recognise and manage postpartum psychosis.

In this session, you’ll hear directly from people with lived experience, as well as APP staff, academics and clinicians. Our training is highly rated, with consistently excellent feedback, and 100% of attendees say they would recommend it to colleagues.

If your Mother and Baby Unit (MBU) or Perinatal Mental Health Team is already receiving APP training, new starters can access our online training free of charge for the next 18 months.

APP also offers 1-hour specialist lunchtime sessions for MBUs, covering topics such as working with peer supporters.

To find out more or to book training for your team, get in touch: training@app-network.org

18/03/2026

🫶 Please nominate Action on Postpartum Psychosis for a Movement for Good award - with your help we could win a £1,000 grant to support our work.

⏱️ It takes less than a minute and the more nominations we get, the more chance we have of being selected. The first round of draws starts next Monday - there's £100,000 of awards available and 20 charities a day will be picked between 23rd - 27th March.

💜 It's free, easy and you don't have to sign up for anything. Just go to www.bit.ly/nominateAPP to nominate APP.

😍 Thank you!

17/03/2026

Tim's story: 'I'm supporting APP because they have been campaigning for more Mother and Baby Units for over 10 years. My family have first hand experience of not being able to access a local Mother and Baby Unit.

In the summer of 2015 when our baby daughter was around 10 weeks old, my wife Jan needed mental health support as she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, a rare illness affecting only 1-2 in every 1000 Mothers. There was no bed available at the nearest Mother and Baby Unit in Leeds, so Jan and the baby were taken by ambulance car to Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester where Jan was voluntarily admitted to the Andersen Ward, a Mother and Baby Unit.

It was tough to separate our family - we had a six year old boy at home in York without his Mum and new baby sister.

The care available at the MBU and the facilities were excellent, in particular, being able to stay with our baby was important for Jan's recovery. In the MBU we were handed a leaflet about APP and it was the first time we learned that there was a specific charity raising awareness of this devastating illness and campaigning for more MBUs across the country.

Our family was eventually reunited as Jan made a full recovery and was able to return home after six weeks to look after our baby at home. We recognise that we were lucky to have access to a MBU even though it wasn't local. Some new Mothers have to be separated from their babies and enter a psychiatric ward alone. Ten years on and with a healthy family, we would like to give something back to enable help to be made available for other families in a similar situation.'

17/03/2026

'Nobody should reach the critical state that I did – or worse - before they are diagnosed. A formal diagnosis could raise awareness, improve training and, ultimately, save lives.' Thank you to Laura for sharing your postpartum psychosis experience.

A few months ago, an international panel of women's mental health experts called for postpartum psychosis (PP) to be formally recognised in diagnosis classification manuals. APP is supporting this campaign.

Postpartum psychosis is the name used to describe the severe mental illness that begins after having a baby, involving mania, psychosis or both, for 1-2 in every 1000 women. However, it is not a term used by official diagnostic systems. This can cause a great deal of confusion for women, families, clinicians and researchers.

Over several years, this group of experts has brought together clinical and biological evidence showing that postpartum psychosis should be recognised as its own diagnosis, within the bipolar disorder spectrum.

As it stands, people in our community are given a wide range of different ‘official’ diagnoses, such as ‘bipolar 1 disorder with perinatal onset’, ‘depression with psychosis’, ‘psychosis not otherwise specified’, ‘manic episode with perinatal onset’ - and other terms.

We will be writing a webpage explaining more about this work and the issues surrounding it. We’d also like to use anonymous quotes and examples to help explain to the committee that decides on official diagnosis, why clearer recognition matters.