Do psychiatric drugs have any effect on pregnancy?

　　As society becomes more and more stressful, the incidence of mental illness is increasing year by year. Most mental illnesses develop in young adults, often in the prime of life at the time of onset, and many patients face critical life events such as marriage and childbirth while receiving treatment. The question of whether taking antipsychotic medications has an effect on having children is a topic that patients often consider and doctors are often asked about. If you give up your medication for the sake of your child’s health, you may relapse; if you delay childbirth in order to consolidate your treatment, you may miss the “prime time for childbirth”, so it becomes a dilemma whether to continue your medication during pregnancy or whether you can get pregnant while on medication.　　The United States was the first to classify the safety of drugs in pregnancy. Class A: No harm to the fetus has been observed by clinical control, and is the safest class; Class B: No harm to the fetus and animals has been observed in animal tests, but there is a lack of clinical control observation data; or harm to the fetus and animals has been observed in animal tests, but clinical control observation studies have failed to confirm; Class A and B drugs are drugs that have no or almost no harm to the fetus and pregnant women. Class A and B drugs are generally safe for use during pregnancy; Class C: no data from animal experiments and clinical control observations; or there is damage to animals and fetuses, but there is a lack of clinical control observation data; the selection of these drugs is most difficult, and many commonly used antipsychotics belong to this category; Class D: there is a certain amount of clinical data indicating that the drug is harmful to the fetus, but there is a great clinical need and a lack of alternative drugs, and the decision can be made by weighing its harmfulness and clinical indications. Class C and D drugs are harmful to the fetus (teratogenic or abortifacient) but beneficial to the pregnant woman, and should be used with caution after weighing the pros and cons. Class X: animal experimental results and clinical data indicate that they are harmful to the fetus and generally exceed the beneficial effects of therapeutic applications, and are prohibited during pregnancy.　　Most of the drugs commonly used in psychiatry belong to Class C, and some belong to Class D or Class X (e.g., sodium valproate, lithium carbonate, alprazolam , etc.).　　Whether or not you can have children while taking medication has relatively little effect on the fetus for men with or without medication. The wife can continue the medication after she gets pregnant. Before pregnancy, if the dose of medication is small and the safety of the medication is high (Class C or above medication), the medication can be stopped without it.　　For women, if they are young, such as within 30 years old, it is recommended to “treat the disease first, then get pregnant”; if they are older and want to get pregnant urgently, they should first consider the safety of the drug and stop or switch the drug with a lower safety level to a higher safety level under the guidance of a doctor. The shortest time between discontinuation and pregnancy is recommended to be one month + 5 half-lives of the drug (one physiological cycle + 5 half-lives of the drug). If you have to use a drug with a very low safety level (e.g. X level), it is strongly recommended not to get pregnant, otherwise it will have adverse effects on the fetus and in retrospect will cause more psychological and physical damage to the pregnant woman.　　Pregnancy is not recommended when mental illness is not effectively treated. This is because changes in hormone levels in the body, living environment and rhythm of life during pregnancy may increase the psychological burden of the pregnant woman and lead to the aggravation of mental illness.