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Panic disorder during pregnancy and postpartum period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Borwin Bandelow ,
Felicita Sojka ,
Andreas Broocks ,
Göran Hajak ,
Stefan Bleich  and
Eckart Rüther
Borwin Bandelow*
Affiliation:
von-Siebold-Str. 5, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Göttingen, Germany
Felicita Sojka
Affiliation:
von-Siebold-Str. 5, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Göttingen, Germany
Andreas Broocks
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Germany
Göran Hajak
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Germany
Stefan Bleich
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
Eckart Rüther
Affiliation:
von-Siebold-Str. 5, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Göttingen, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 551 39 6607; fax: +49 551 39 2004. E-mail address: Borwin.Bandelow@medizin.uni-goettingen.de (B. Bandelow).
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Abstract

Background

– Earlier studies on the influence of pregnancy and postpartum period on the course of panic disorder have been inconsistent. The present study aims to quantify panic manifestations in these periods in large sample of women.

Method

– Panic manifestations, including exacerbations and new manifestations of panic disorder, were assessed retrospectively in a sample of 128 women with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, 93 of whom had had 195 pregnancies.

Results

– Panic manifestations were fewer during pregnancy and more frequent in the postpartum period when compared with the control period. Women who had never been pregnant had significantly more panic manifestations than women with prior pregnancies. Breastfeeding and miscarriages did not have a significant effect. Women with postpartum panic reported more psychosocial stress events during this period.

Conclusions

– Possible reasons for postpartum panic and the protective effects of pregnancy are discussed, including psychosocial or hormonal factors and other neurobiological changes. Postpartum panic coincides with a sudden drop of hormones after delivery.

Keywords

Panic disorderPregnancyPostpartumEstrogenProgesterone
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 21 , Issue 7 , October 2006 , pp. 495 - 500
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier SAS 2006

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