Depression in women suffering perinatal loss

Objective: To analyze depression in women who have suffered perinatal loss in the present study. Methods: The level of depression was studied, by means of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), in two groups of women, mothers who suffered perinatal loss and received psychological intervention for 1 year and mothers with live-birth babies. The BDI was recorded immediately after delivery and at 6 and 12 months postpartum. A third group of women with perinatal loss who received no intervention were studied only 12 months postpartum. Results: At the time of delivery, women who suffered perinatal loss showed higher levels of depression, as measured by higher scores on the BDI than women experiencing a live-birth. At 6 months postpartum the intervention group showed improvement (lower BDI scores), but as a group they endorsed more depressive symptoms than the live-birth group. At 12 months the perinatal loss group who received the 1-year intervention was less depressed than the group who did not, and scored very similar to the live-birth group. Conclusion: Women who experience perinatal loss endorse more depressive symptoms than mothers of live-births, and these depressive symptoms can be ameliorated by a psychological intervention. (C) 1998 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.