GENETIC BACKGROUND

Abstract

It is actually well known that most mental disorders have a genetic background milieu, that can be exacerbated by stress events. Pregnancy and postpartum period represent a specific time of life for women, when their genetic risk for mental illness and thus vulnerability to present a disease can be trigger by stress due to baby care. Recently, biomarkers for early perinatal depression detection have been investigated, among them some studies have evaluated genetic impact on perinatal depression onset.