Women with nonorganic psychosis: factors associated with pregnancy's effect on mental health.

Pregnancy's effect on mental health during pregnancy was studied in relation to 17 variables representing the pregnant woman's demographic, social, material, physical and attitudinal characteristics, in an attempt to explain the highly varied effect of pregnancy on mental health which had been observed both among 88 index women with a history of nonorganic psychosis and among 104 demographically similar pregnant control women. Little explanation or predictability was found for the varied effect of pregnancy. Among index cases, only maternal age and the experienced effect of pregnancy on physical health were significantly related to its effect on mental health. In controls, the presence of material-situational problems and a negative/ambivalent initial reaction to pregnancy were each related to increased change in mental health, i.e. to both improvement and worsening in mental health associated with pregnancy.

Women with nonorganic psychosis: mental disturbance during pregnancy.

Rates of mental disturbance during pregnancy were studied in 88 index women with a history of nonorganic psychosis and 104 demographically similar control women. The sources of information were the woman's own report at interview during pregnancy, the interviewer's assessment and, for index cases, psychiatric record notations relevant to the pregnancy period. Highly significantly increased rates of active mental disturbance were identified for index women, as compared with controls, based both on the woman's own report and on the interviewer's assessment. Most disturbed were women with a history of Schizophrenia, Cycloid, Postpartum and Other Psychoses, and only those index women with a history of Affective Illness did not differ from controls. Only one third of the index cases were in contact with a psychiatrist during pregnancy, and high rates of active mental disturbance were identified at interview even in those index women without psychiatric contact.

Women with nonorganic psychosis: pregnancy's effect on mental health during pregnancy.

The effect of pregnancy on women's mental health during pregnancy was studied by interview with 88 pregnant index cases with a history of nonorganic psychosis and 104 demographically similar pregnant controls, and by psychiatric records for the subsample of index cases with relevant information. Controls generally reported experiencing no change or only a slight worsening of mental health due to pregnancy, while index differentially reported improved or considerably worsened health. In total, worsening was more common than improvement in the index cases, and especially in those with a history of Schizophrenic, Psychogenic, Postpartum and Other Psychoses. Psychiatric record information suggested predominantly more improvement in the subsample with information, but this bore little systematic relation to the same women's reports at interview during pregnancy.

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: mother-infant interaction at three days of age.

Mother-infant interaction during a feeding was studied at about 3 days of age in 51 index mother-infant pairs in which the mother had a history of nonorganic psychosis and in 73 demographically similar control pairs. Interaction was significantly more negative and deviant in index than control cases, index mothers establishing a significantly more negative emotional climate and less harmony in feeding, evidencing more tension and uncertainty, and showing less social contact toward the infant. Index infants showed significantly less social contact toward the mother and index pairs less reciprocal visual contact than did controls. While the Schizophrenic, Cycloid and Nonendogenous Psychoses groups each differed from their matched controls on a number of variables, the Affective group was not in any way more negative than its controls on interaction.

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: fear of strangers during the first year of life.

Fear of strangers ( FOS ) during the infant's first year was studied in 46 "high-risk" offspring of index mothers with a history of nonorganic psychosis and in 80 demographically similar control offspring. FOS was measured in the home by a standardized test at 1 year of age and by repeated interviews with the mother during the first year. As compared with controls, the total index group, and the subgroups of offspring of mothers with Schizophrenia and Cycloid Psychosis, significantly more often showed a total absence of FOS in the test at 1 year, as well as during the entire first year. FOS at 1 year was unrelated both to serious active psychiatric disturbance in index mothers during the infant's first year of life, and the infant's sex, in index and control groups.

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: infant attachment to the mother at one year of age.

Attachment to the mother at 1 year of age was studied in 46 "high-risk" offspring of index mothers with a history of nonorganic psychosis and in 80 demographically similar control offspring. Attachment was measured in the home in a standardized manner by a modified version of Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure. Three different patterns, representing "secure attachment" (Type B), "anxiously avoidant attachment" (Type A) and "anxiously ambivalent attachment" (Type C), were defined. While no significant difference on attachment type was found between the total index versus control group, a significantly increased rate of anxious attachment (A + C) was found for offspring of schizophrenics but no other diagnostic group. Attachment type was unrelated to index mothers' psychiatric hospitalization, psychotic status and known mental disturbance during the infants' first year of life, as well as to the infants' sex.

Pregnant women with nonorganic psychosis: life situation and experience of pregnancy.

Eighty-eight index women with a history of nonorganic psychosis and 104 demographically similar control women were interviewed during pregnancy after quickening concerning their experience of pregnancy and their current life situation. The index group, compared with controls, reported a significantly increased frequency of material-situational problems, interpersonal difficulties and a lack of support for the pregnancy among the spouse and the woman's parents, an initially unplanned and undesired pregnancy, a negative attitude toward the pregnancy after quickening, moderate-to-heavy smoking, nervousness and anxiety, panic about the delivery, and great concern about their own mental health in the near future. No significant difference between groups was found on frequency of typical pregnancy symptoms, the experienced effect of pregnancy on physical health or concerns about the child's health or mothering.

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychoses. Development of a longitudinal study of children at high risk.

This article describes the development of a prospective, longitudinal study of 88 "high-risk" offspring of pregnant index women with a history of nonorganic psychoses and 104 offspring of demographically-similar pregnant control women. The maternal psychoses represented the diagnostic categories, Schizophrenia, Cycloid Psychosis, Affective Illness, Psychogenic Psychosis, Postpartum Psychosis and Other (remaining) Psychoses. The first phase of the study began during pregnancy and continued until the offspring reached 2 years of age. Selected characteristics of the mothers, the offspring and their environments were investigated during this project phase.