A follow‐up study of post partum illness, 1946‐1978

Abstract

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 %.