["Puerperal psychoses". An overview].

Since antiquity, puerperal mental disorders have always been the field of polemics concerning the different possible etiopathogenic hypothesis. XIXth century has been particularly marked by nosographic descriptions and subsequent hormonal speculations. Psychoanalytic approach has been prominent for thirty years but a trend to a come back of biological hypothesis is now noticeable. This overview represent an effort to synthetize clinical, epidemiological and current biological aspects of puerperal psychosis with a special mention to dopamine-oriented researches. The last part reports the main therapeutical available techniques.