Motherhood and Schizophrenic Illnesses: A Review of the Literature

• Published in: Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry 2003-02, Vol.37 (1), p.24-30
• Main Authors: Bosanac, Peter, Buist, Anne, Burrows, Graham
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Depression, Postpartum - psychology; Female; Humans; Life Change Events; Maternal Behavior - psychology; Medical sciences; Mother-Child Relations; Motherhood; Mothers - psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Psychotic Disorders - psychology; schizoaffective; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenic Psychology
• ISSN: 0004-8674; 1440-1614
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-1614.2003.01104.x

Objective: To provide an overview of the current knowledge on the impact of motherhood on women with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Method: The published literature was selectively reviewed and assessed, based on a complete MEDLINE and PsychLIT (1971 to current) search, including English and non-English journals and books. Results: Research to date into motherhood and schizophrenic illnesses has been limited by a number of methodological constraints, limiting the ability to draw conclusions and the prevention of relapses and mother-infant difficulties. These constraints have included: a paucity of prospective studies with initial, antenatal recruitment; variable definitions of the length of the puerperium; significant changes in psychiatric classification; the heterogeneity of postpartum psychotic disorders, with the majority being mood or schizoaffective disorder rather than schizophrenia; selection biases inherent in studying mother-baby unit inpatients; difficulties in life events research in general, such as its retrospective nature and confounding, illness factors; and the specificity versus non-specificity of childbirth as a unique or discrete life event. Conclusions: Further study is required to explore: the impact of child care, parenting and having a partner on the course of women with schizophrenic and schizoaffective disorders during the first postpartum year; whether women with postpartum relapses of these mental illnesses are likely to have slower recoveries than those women with the same diagnoses but without young children; and protective factors against postpartum relapse.