Hostname: page-component-669899f699-7xsfk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-24T11:07:16.181Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Course and Recurrence of Postnatal Depression

Evidence for the Specificity of the Diagnostic Concept

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Peter J. Cooper  and
Lynne Murray
Peter J. Cooper*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Reading
Lynne Murray
Affiliation:
Winnicott Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
*
Professor Cooper, Department of Psychology, University of Reading, 3 Earley Gate, Whiteknights Road, Reading RG6 2AL
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

It is unclear whether the causative factors of non-psychotic postnatal depression are the same as those of depression at other times.

Method

The course and recurrence of postnatal depression was studied in two groups of primiparous women experiencing an index episode of postnatal depression: those for whom the mood disorder had arisen de novo (n = 34), and those for whom it was a recurrence of previous affective disturbance (n = 21). The mental state of these two groups, together with a psychiatrically well control group (n = 40), was studied for five years.

Results

It was found that those for whom the index episode was a recurrence of depression were at raised risk of further non-postpartum episodes but not postpartum episodes, and that those for whom the index episode had arisen de novo were at raised risk for further episodes of postnatal depression but not for non-postpartum episodes.

Conclusion

These findings suggest a specific nosologic reference for the concept of postnatal depression.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 166 , Issue 2 , February 1995 , pp. 191 - 195
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Carothers, A. D. & Murray, L. (1990) Estimating psychiatric morbidity by logistic regression. Psychological Medicine, 20, 695–702.Google Scholar
Cooper, P. J., Campbell, E. A., Day, A., Kennerly, H. & Bond, A. (1988) Non-psychotic psychiatric disorder after childbirth: a prospective study of prevalence, incidence, course and nature. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 799–806.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, P. J. & Stein, A. (1989) Life events and postnatal depression. In Current Approaches: Childbirth as a Life Event (eds Cox, J. L., Paykel, E. S. & Page, M. L.), pp. 38–45. Southampton: Duphar Laboratories.Google Scholar
Cooper, P. J., Murray, L. & Stein, A. (1991) Postnatal depression. In European Handbook of Psychiatry and Mental Health (ed. Seva, A.), pp. 1255–1262. Barcelona: Anthropos.Google Scholar
Cox, J. L., Holden, J. M. & Sagorsky, R. (1987) Detection of postnatal depression: development of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. British Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 782–786.Google Scholar
Cox, J. L., Murray, D. & Chapman, G. (1993) A controlled study of the onset, duration and prevalence of postnatal course. British Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 27–31.Google Scholar
Endicott, J. & Spitzer, R. L. (1978) A diagnostic interview: The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 837–844.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., Kedward, H. B. & Shepherd, M. A. (1970) A standardised psychiatric interview for use in community surveys. British Journal of Preventative and Social Medicine, 24, 18–23.Google ScholarPubMed
Harris, B. (1993) A hormonal component to postnatal depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 403–405.Google Scholar
Harris, B. (1994) Biological and hormonal aspects of postpartum depressed mood. British Journal of Psychiatry, 164, 288–292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kumar, R. & Robson, K. (1984) A prospective study of emotional disorders in childbearing women. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 35–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murray, L. (1989) Childbirth as a life event: the Cambridge study of postnatal depression and infant development. In Current Approaches: Childbirth as a Life Event (eds Cox, J. L., Paykel, E. S. & Page, M. L.), pp. 23–36. Southampton: Duphar Laboratories.Google Scholar
Murray, L. (1992) The impact of postnatal depression on infant development. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 543–561.Google Scholar
Nott, P. N. (1987) Extent, timing and persistence of emotional disorders following childbirth. British Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 523–527.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
O'Hara, M. W., Zekoski, E. M., Philipps, L. H. & Wright, E. J. (1990) Controlled prospective study of postpartum mood disorders: comparison of childbearing and nonchildbearing women. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 99, 3–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Philipps, L. & O'Hara, M. (1991) Prospective study of postpartum depression: four and a half year follow-up of women and children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 151–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spitzer, R. L., Endicott, J. & Robbins, E. (1978) Research Diagnostic Criteria: rationale and reliability. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 773–782.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trevarthen, C. (1979) Communication and cooperation in early infancy: a description of primary intersubjectivity. In Before Speech: The Beginning of Interpersonal Communication (ed. Bullowa, M.), pp. 321–347. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Uddenberg, N. & Englesson, I. (1978) Prognosis of postpartum mental disturbance: a prospective study of primiparous women and their four and a half year old children. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 58, 201–212.Google Scholar
Watson, J. P., Elliot, S. A., Rugg, A. J. & Brough, D. I. (1984) Psychiatric disorder in pregnancy and the first postnatal year. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 453–462.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whiffen, V. E. (1992) Is postpartum depression a distinct diagnosis? Clinical Psychology Review, 12, 485–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolkind, S., Coleman, E. & Ghodsian, M. (1980) Continuities in maternal depression. International Journal of Family Psychiatry, 1, 167–192.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.