Introduction/Objectives:

There is a well-established risk of acute episodes of postpartum disturbances especially in women diagnosed with mental disorder prior to childbirth (Davidson & Robertson, 1985). Consequences for mother and child can be fatal (Jones & Craddock, 2001). Nevertheless there is just few and contradictory data about pregnancy and postpartum and the influence on the further course of illness in patients with bipolar disorder.

Participants, Materials/Methods:

Women in Styria diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder are retrospectively interviewed about pregnancy, birth and postpartum, course of illness and general medical history by a personal interview as well as standardised questionnaires. Data is compared with two kinds of controls: (i) female bipolar patients without children, (ii) healthy controls, mothers without severe diseases. The following material is used:

1) Semistructured interview

2) STAI (Laux et al.)

3) LEBI (Richter & Guthke, 1994)

4) F-SozU (Frydrich et al., 2007)

5) NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae)

6) LAST (Rumpf et al., 1997)

7) PKS (Schneewind & Kruse, 2002)

Results:

Main hypotheses are increased incidence of postpartum depression of patients with bipolar disorder in comparison to “healthy” mothers and influence of childbirth on life-course of illness. Risk factors, influence of heritability and birth complications are evaluated. Additionally the following aspects will be examined:

1) state and trait anxiety

2) psychosocial risk factors and life events

3) personality and neuroticism

4) alcohol and drug abuse

5) coping strategies

6) social support and partnership

7) teratologic knowledge and compliance

Conclusions:

Findings of our study can be useful in detecting predictors of postpartum problems in bipolar disorder and in helping concerned women and their families in better managing pregnancy and childbirth.