A follow-up study of post partum illness, 1946-1978.
Eighty-two patients, who were treated for post partum illness between 1946 and 1971, were identified and followed up. Diagnostically, the sample comprised unipolar depression (52%), bipolar disorder (18%), schizophrenia (16%), abnormal personality with depression (8%), organic disorder (2%), and obsessional state with depression and paranoid disorder (1% each). The overall prognosis was good, except for schizophrenia, in which more than 50% of patients had chronic disability. Further childbirth intensified, and caused deterioration of, the underlying schizophrenia process. Following an initial illness in the puerperium, the probability of a recurrent affective illness was 43% for unipolar and 66% for bipolar disorder. The risk of developing another post partum illness varied from 1 in 3 to 1 in 5 pregnancies. Five percent of the sample ultimately committed suicide, and the probable incidence of infanticide was 4%.
D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D019965:Neurocognitive Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D010259:Paranoid Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D011247:Pregnancy; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D011644:Puerperal Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D012008:Recurrence; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology