Neurobiology of Peripartum Emotional Regulation

Dear Colleagues,

The peripartum period is a complex phase in a woman’s life. Amazing adaptive changes occur to care for the baby, including thoughts and behaviors, reflected in neuroendocrine reactivity and regulation during pregnancy, birthing and after childbirth. Perinatal anxiety, depression, mood instability, posttraumatic stress, sleep problems and substance misuse are common and on the rise with devastating consequences to maternal sensitivity. These have serious consequences for child health through the next generation. Indeed, perinatal mental and behavioral health has drawn increasing interest in the past several years, with novel research approaches and interventions, both biological and psychological. Perinatal psychiatry, and psychiatry in general, faces the challenge of delineating and testing neurobiological targets and specific pathways that explain peripartum emotional (dys)regulation and illness and may enhance therapeutic efforts.

This Special Issue aims to present papers that will aid the current state-of-the-art understanding of the neurobiology underlying peripartum emotional and mental states in health and illness, and address neuropsychological targets for treatments that ameliorate perinatal emotional dysregulation and/or perinatal functioning including parenting. 

We welcome papers that tap into perinatal neurobiology from various angles (including, but not limited to, brain imaging, study of HPA stress axis and autonomic nervous system, studies on immunology and oxidative stress, genetic and epigenetic work, and others) and relate such biology to perinatal mood disorders, PTSD, emotional regulation, substance misuse/disorder, bonding and parenting. 

We are accepting original research studies, reviews, case reports, perspectives, and opinion articles.

Dr. Maria Muzik
Dr. James E. Swain
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• perinatal
• pregnancy
• postpartum
• anxiety
• depression
• trauma
• substance use
• mental
• emotion regulation
• parenting
• mother-infant bond
• intervention