Behl Ritika
Alliance School of Law, Alliance University, Bengaluru, India.
Faculty of Law, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune, India.
Discov Ment Health. 2025 May 15;5(1):73. doi: 10.1007/s44192-025-00204-7.
Perinatal depression (PND), and perinatal mental health (PMH) are regarded as an underestimated public health concern. A doctoral study was undertaken to analyze the efficacy of existing health laws and policies in India in addressing and managing PND, and the implications of non-recognition of PND as a public health issue. The interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary study involved four disciplines: Psychiatry, Medical Anthropology, Public Health Law, and International Human Rights Law. The study highlighted the need for synergistic assimilation of knowledge from the four disciplines to read mental health, PND, and PMH. The study novelly emphasized the need to read PND as a 'medico-legal anthropological' concept, which manifests medically, results largely, and is strongly influenced by psychosocial factors, making it imperative to recognize perinatal women as a vulnerable population and safeguard their human rights. This approach will facilitate assessments about interventions for addressing and/or managing PND when policy-making/policy reforms regarding PND are in progress.
围产期抑郁症（PND）和围产期心理健康（PMH）被视为一个被低估的公共卫生问题。一项博士研究旨在分析印度现行卫生法律和政策在解决和管理PND方面的效力，以及不将PND视为公共卫生问题的影响。这项跨学科和跨领域的研究涉及四个学科：精神病学、医学人类学、公共卫生法和国际人权法。该研究强调需要将四个学科的知识进行协同整合，以解读心理健康、PND和PMH。该研究创新性地强调需要将PND视为一个“法医学人类学”概念，它在医学上表现出来，很大程度上受心理社会因素影响，因此必须将围产期妇女视为弱势群体并保障她们的人权。当针对PND的政策制定/政策改革正在进行时，这种方法将有助于对解决和/或管理PND的干预措施进行评估。
