Social Work Today E-Zine

Pregnancy alone does not appear to be associated with an increased risk of the most prevalent mental disorders, according to a report in a recent issue of Archives of General Psychiatry. However, postpartum women may have a higher risk of major depressive disorder.

Oriana Vesga-López, MD, of New York State Psychiatric Institute, and colleagues analyzed data from interviews of 43,093 individuals who participated in a survey on alcohol, disorders, and related conditions. Of these, 14,549 were women (aged 18 to 50) who had been pregnant within the past year. Participants reported psychiatric disorders, substance use, and whether they had sought treatment.

Women who were pregnant at the time of the study had a lower risk of having any mood disorder, except major depression, than nonpregnant women. “Age, marital status, health status, stressful life events and history of traumatic experiences were all significantly associated with higher risk of psychiatric disorders in pregnant and post-partum women.” Women who had been pregnant within the past year had lower treatment-seeking rates for any psychiatric disorder within the past year and within their lifetime. “Most women with a current psychiatric disorder did not receive any mental health care in the 12 months prior to the survey regardless of pregnancy status,” the authors wrote.

Although pregnancy alone is not associated with an increased risk of the most common mental disorders, “groups of pregnant women with particularly high prevalence of psychiatric disorders were identified,” the authors wrote. These groups included women aged 18 to 25 living without a partner, widowed, separated, divorced, or never married and women who experienced pregnancy complications or stressful life events. “Given the critical importance of this life period for mothers and their offspring, urgent action is needed to increase detection and treatment of psychiatric disorders among pregnant and post-partum women in the United States.”

— Source: American Medical Association