Preconception care refers to health care promotion to support future pregnancies for women and couples. In psychiatry, preconception care prepares women with mental illness for pregnancy, and this article focuses on two aspects of daily clinical practice. First, reviewing patient lifestyle is important. Appropriate weight maintenance, cessation of tobacco and alcohol consumption, keeping a well-balanced diet, and stress avoidance can lead to having healthier children. The second is adjusting psychotropic medications. Antipsychotics and antidepressants show no teratogenic or developmental effects; however, as these findings are for single agents, medications should be kept as simple as possible. Valproic acid should not be prescribed to women of childbearing potential because of increased risk of teratogenicity and effects on child development. Lithium carbonate should also be used with caution, but is now known to be dose-dependent, and below 600 mg per day does not increase risk. Sharing information about lifestyle and medications with the patient and family when discussing future pregnancies may enable them to feel more comfortable going forward with pregnancy.
 Authors' abstract