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Psychiatric Morbidity in Spouses of Women Admitted to a Mother and Baby Unit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Ian Harvey  and
Graeme McGrath
Ian Harvey
Affiliation:
King's College Hospital
Graeme McGrath*
Affiliation:
University Hospital of South Manchester
*
∗Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of South Manchester, Nell Lane, West Didsbury, Manchester M20 8LR
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Abstract

The spouses of 40 women admitted to a psychiatric Mother and Baby Unit were interviewed to detect psychiatric morbidity, and aspects of their social and marital functioning. This group was compared with 25 men whose wives had not shown obvious psychiatric disorder in the puerperium. Psychiatric morbidity, using DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980) criteria, was present in 42% of the index group, and 4% of the comparison group. The main diagnoses were major depressive episode and generalised anxiety disorder. This was associated with poorer marital and social function in the index group. Male psychopathology after delivery has been studied little but may be significant in the management of postpartum syndromes.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 152 , Issue 4 , April 1988 , pp. 506 - 510
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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