The automatic nervous system has two branches: the sympathet…

The automatic nervous system has two branches: the sympathetic division, which controls fight/flight response and plays a prominent role in the physical symptoms of anxiety like heart racing, and the parasympathetic nervous system which mediates functions the body performs in times of calm, like digesting food. 

A 32-year-old woman with a history of depres sion as a teena…

A 32-year-old woman with a history of depres sion as a teenager, now 6 days postpartum, is brought into the emergency room by her hus band. She has not slept for the past several days, even while the newborn is napping. She has been irritable, and has been pacing in the middle of the night and weeping, while talking to no one in particular. Yesterday she began to ignore the infant, but today she vol unteered that the child “is the Antichrist and must be destroyed.” She admits to you that she wants to smother the infant in a “humane way to prevent the apocalypse.” Which of the following diagnoses is the most likely?