Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:46:00.352Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effect of Maternal Psychological Stress on the Foetus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

William H. James
William H. James*
Affiliation:
Department of Biometry, Gallon Laboratory, University College, London W.C.1
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Folklore has had more to say than science about the relation between the outcome of a pregnancy and the psychological history of the parturient: our culture interprets a legitimate stillbirth as the sign of a sick marriage. And sceptics may think that accretions of folklore are with us yet in the form of facile psychoanalytic explanations. Helene Deutsch (1945) ably expounds the case: spontaneous abortion differs from induced abortion, she tells us, in that “the inducing agent is the psyche, and the pregnant woman who resorts to the help of this agent does not act from conscious will or in accordance with conscious wishes”.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 115 , Issue 524 , July 1969 , pp. 811 - 825
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1969 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alvarez, H., and Caldeyro-Barcia, R. (1953). Proceedings of the First World Congress of Fertility and Sterility. International Fertility Association.Google Scholar
Backhausen, H. (undated). “Frequency of stillbirth for legitimate and illegitimate children in Denmark.” Typescript.Google Scholar
Bickers, W. (1956). Fertil. Steril., 7, 268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Book, J. A., and Rayner, S. (1950). Am. J. hum. Genet., 2, 61.Google Scholar
Butler, N. R., and Bonham, D. G. (1963). Perinatal Mortality. London: E. and S. Livingstone.Google Scholar
Caldwell, D. F. (1962). J. Embryol. exp. Morph., 10, 471.Google Scholar
Calhoun, J. (1962). Scientific American. February.Google Scholar
Christian, J. J. (1956). Ecology, 37, 258.Google Scholar
Coppen, A., and Cowie, V. (1960). Brit. med. J., i, 1843.Google Scholar
Deutsch, H. (1945). The Psychology of Women. New York: Grune.Google Scholar
Drillien, C. M., and Wilkinson, E. M. (1964). Develop. Med. Child Neurol., 6, 140.Google Scholar
Edwards, J. H. (1958). Brit. J. prev. soc. Med., 12, 115.Google Scholar
Edwards, J. H. (1961). Ann. hum. Genet., 25, 89.Google Scholar
Gebhard, P. H., Pomeroy, W. B., Martin, C. E., and Christenson, C. V. (1958). Pregnancy, Birth and Abortion. New York: Harper and Bros.Google Scholar
Grebenik, E. (1957). Bull. de l'Inst, intern. de Statist., 36, 2, 122.Google Scholar
Greenland, C. (1957). Lancet, i, 148.Google Scholar
Grönroos, M., Kauppila, O., and Soiva, K. (1961). Acta endocr., 37, 309.Google Scholar
Handyside, R. (1967). Nova, March, p. 56.Google Scholar
Hartel, A., and Hartel, G. (1960). Science, 132, 1483.Google Scholar
Hockman, C. H. (1961). J. comp. Physiol. Psychol., 54, 679.Google Scholar
Holliday, B. Lady Sings the Blues.Google Scholar
Illsley, R., and Kincaid, J. C. (1963). In: Butler, N. R., and Bonham, D. G. Perinatal Mortality. London: E. and S. Livingstone.Google Scholar
Ingalls, T. H. (1947). Am. J. Dis. Child., 74, 147.Google Scholar
James, W. H. (1963). Am. J. hum. Genet., 15, 223.Google Scholar
James, W. H. (1968a). Ann. hum. Genet. 32, 163.Google Scholar
James, W. H. (1968b). Ann. hum. Genet., 32, 151.Google Scholar
Klebanov, D. (1948). Geburtsh. Frauenheilk., 7–8, 812.Google Scholar
Leck, I. (1966). Lancet, ii, 791.Google Scholar
Leck, I. and Record, R. G. (1966). Brit. J. prev. soc., Med., 20, 67.Google Scholar
McKeown, T., and Record, R. G. (1951). Lancet, i, 192.Google Scholar
McKinlay, P. L. (1948). Health Bull. of the C.M.O. Dept. of Health for Scotland, 6, 17.Google Scholar
Mann, E. C. (1956). Obst. and Gynec, 7, 589.Google Scholar
Myers, K., and Poole, W. E. (1962). Australian J. Zool., 10, 225.Google Scholar
Myktowycz, R. (1961). Australia Commonwealth Sci. Ind. Res. Organ Wildlife Res., 6, 142.Google Scholar
Pope, H. (1967). J. Marriage and Family, 29, 555.Google Scholar
Record, R. G. (1961). Brit. J. prev. soc. Med., 15, 93.Google Scholar
Record, R. G. and McKeown, T. (1949). Brit. J. soc. Med., 3, 183.Google Scholar
Registrar General for England and Wales. Annual Statistical Review. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Registrar General for England and Wales. (1951) Classification of Occupations, 1950. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Runner, M. N. (1959). Anat. Rec., 133, 330.Google Scholar
Schull, W. J. (1961). Clin. Obst. and Gynec., 4, 365.Google Scholar
Scott, E. M., Illsley, R., and Biles, M. E. (1956). J. Obst. Gynaec. Brit. Emp., 63, 494.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1956). Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. London: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Stott, D. H. (1958). J. psychosom. Res., 3, 42.Google Scholar
Stott, D. H. (1961). Vita hum. (Basel), 4, 57.Google Scholar
Stott, D. H. (1962). In: Montagu, M. F. A. (ed.) Culture and the Evolution of Man. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sutherland, I. (1949). Stillbirths, their Epidemiology and Social Significance. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Swan, C., Tostevin, A. L., and Black, G. H. B. (1946). Med. J. Austr., ii, 889.Google Scholar
Thomas, , Dylan, (1954). Under Milk Wood. A Play for Voices. London: Dent.Google Scholar
Thompson, B. (1956). Brit. J. prev. Soc. Med., 10, 75.Google Scholar
Time Magazine (15 April, 1966).Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare; Public Health Service, National Vital Statistics Division. (1961). Vital Statistics of the United States, Vol. 2, Section 4, Fetal Mortality.Google Scholar
Wimperis, V. (1960). The Unmarried Mother and her Child. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Zondek, B., and Tamari, I. (1960). Am. J. Obst. Gynec., 80, 1041.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zondek, B., and Tamari, I. (1964). Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. Med., 116, 636.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.