Rates of Mental Disease Related to Childbearing

A COMPARISON of rates of mental disorder among pregnant or recently delivered women with rates in women not in these statuses appears to be one of the first priorities of an examination of the possible etiologic contribution of pregnancy or delivery to mental disorder. Aided by a recent review,1 we have examined the literature without finding such a comparison. We therefore report an attempt to estimate rates of mental illness among the female population characterized according to current reproductive status.Our interest was prompted by the following facts: the term "puerperal psychosis," although appearing in the psychiatric nosologies of England . . .