Suicide in pregnancy: the Hedda Gabler syndrome.
A review of forty-seven suicides in women of child-bearing age revealed that two women were pregnant, two were within the first year post-partum and two falsely believed themselves pregnant. The search revealed two additional pregnancy-associated suicides which had not been reported as suicide. Previous studies asserting that pregnancy protects against suicide would seem to be challenged by these data. Pregnancy-related suicides are similar to each other and to the literary suicide of Hedda Gabler and fit into a continuum of pregnancy-related disorders.
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D011555:Pseudopregnancy / Q000150:complications*; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D013405:Suicide / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000453:epidemiology; D013577:Syndrome