Professionals in many different occupations, from psychiatrists, obstetricians, and pediatricians to nurses, midwives, pharmacists, clinical psychologists, public health nurses, and psychiatric social workers, are involved in perinatal mental healthcare. In order to enhance the function of such healthcare, it is necessary both to provide specialized training in each occupation and form a system and to smoothly conduct medical collaboration between different occupations.
 A deficiency in the medical function of perinatal mental healthcare greatly influences the mother and child's health, mental hygiene, and social life later in life. Therefore, a demand is seen for specialized staff and system formation capable of the following: 1) responding with appropriate perinatal management of female patients taking psychotropic drugs; 2) providing support and pregnancy consultation to female patients who wish to have children; and 3) properly handling postpartum mental disorder management, possibility of breastfeeding, and various issues that arise in mother-child relationships during upbringing.
 In the UK, the clinical guideline (NICE Clinical Guideline 45) for perinatal mental healthcare, which was created by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), provides important guidelines on how to handle perinatal mental health. Aside from the NICE guideline, the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry indicates basic guidelines on prescribing perinatal drug therapy. In Japan, however, the current situation of perinatal mental healthcare is such that it has yet to be systemically developed. In this paper, we introduce the basic content in these British guidelines that should be noted. In addition, we consider the current status and future disposition of Japan's perinatal mental healthcare, with consideration for the differences in healthcare circumstances between Japan and the UK.
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