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Life events and social stress in puerperal psychoses: absence of effect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

D. Dowlatshahi  and
E. S. Paykel
D. Dowlatshahi
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge and St George's Hospital Medical School, London
E. S. Paykel*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge and St George's Hospital Medical School, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Professor E. S. Paykel, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 2QQ.
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Synopsis

Thirty-three patients admitted to hospital with severe early onset puerperal psychiatric disorders were compared with matched normal puerperal controls. Interviews, which were administered after recovery, covered life events in the previous thirteen months and detailed assessment of previous and personal history, pregnancy and labour, other aspects of stress, social support, and marital relationships. No differences, except for previous history of psychiatric disorder, were found between patients and controls or between patients with depressive and with other diagnoses. These findings of absence of social stress contrast with previous studies of milder post-partum depression and of disorders with onset during pregnancy, and suggest that the aetiology of severe post-partum disorders is predominantly biological.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , August 1990 , pp. 655 - 662
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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