A Descriptive Review on Perinatal Deliberate Self-harm: An Untraversed Mental Health Domain

Abstract

Deliberate self-harm is an act or self-inflicted injury without suicidal intent and nonfatal outcome. In recent years, the rates of self-harm are increasing in women of childbearing age and are recognized as a global health problem. Various risk factors such as adverse life events, lack of social and emotional support, and personality traits have been identified in women presenting with self-harm. Such acts not only affect the physical and psychological well-being of the women but also have deleterious effects on overall children’s development of all domains. Women presenting with self-harm during perinatal period should be evaluated carefully for underlying causative factors and adequately treated so as to decrease the morbidity.

Keywords

• deliberate self-harm
• nonsuicidal self-injury
• perinatal
• pregnancy
• self-harm