EFFECTS OF PREVIOUS PREGNANCY LOSS ON LEVEL OF MATERNAL ANXIETY AFTER PRENATAL ULTRASOUND SCREENING FOR FETAL MALFORMATION

• Published in: Journal of loss & trauma 2005-03, Vol.10 (2), p.131-153
• Main Authors: BRISCH, KARL HEINZ, MUNZ, DOROTHEE, KÄCHELE, HORST, TERINDE, RAINER, KREIENBERG, ROLF
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1532-5024; 1532-5032
• DOI: 10.1080/15325020590908849

The impact of previous stillbirth, miscarriage, or preterm delivery on anxiety in pregnant women in various subgroups at high risk for fetal abnormality in comparison with a nonrisk control group of women with healthy uncomplicated pregnancies was studied longitudinally. The level of anxiety in women (n = 674) during early pregnancy was assessed by questionnaire. Data were collected at three points in time: immediately before the ultrasound scanning, at 5-6 weeks, and at 10-12 weeks after the prenatal examination for fetal malformation. In general, all women with high-risk pregnancies (n = 506) showed high levels of anxiety immediately before ultrasound scanning. There was a significant decrease in anxiety over the following 10-12 weeks. By contrast, level of anxiety was not raised in the no-risk control group (n = 168). However, pregnant women who had experienced miscarriage or stillbirth in previous pregnancies showed increasing or persistently high levels of anxiety over time. We believe it is very important to screen women whose levels of anxiety are consistently high or escalating and to offer psychotherapeutic counseling as a means of preventing pregnancy complications. Karl Heinz Brisch, is head of the Department of Pediatric Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany. He is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, psychiatrist, and neurologist specializing in psychosomatic medicine. His main research areas include parent-infant interaction, attachment, coping with high-tech medicine, and diagnosis and treatment of attachment disorders. Dorothee Munz, is a psychologist, researcher, and psychotherapist in the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany. Her research areas include issues of coping with diagnostic procedures in medicine and psychotherapy. Horst Kächele, chair and director of the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany, is a psychoanalyst and psychotherapist. His research fields are psychotherapy process and outcome research, psychosocial aspects of bone marrow transplantation, eating disorders and clinical attachment research. Rainer Terinde, head of the Subdepartment of Prenatal Diagnosis and Sonography in Gynecology, Women's Hospital, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany, is a gynecologist and obstetrician with specialization in prenatal diagnosis. His research area