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OBSTETRICS| Volume 34, ISSUE 11, P1038-1042, November 2012

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Are Pregnant and Postpartum Women Moodier? Understanding Perinatal Mood Instability

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S1701-2163(16)35433-0
Are Pregnant and Postpartum Women Moodier? Understanding Perinatal Mood Instability
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      Abstract

      Objective

      To better understand mood changes in pregnancy and postpartum, we studied mood instability in a group of perinatal women and in a group of normally menstruating non-pregnant women.

      Methods

      Perinatal women (n = 45) completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale at 16 weeks’ and 30 weeks’ gestation and again at four weeks postpartum. Immediately after completing the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, participants also completed mood diaries with separate visual analogue scales for depressed, irritable, anxious, and euphoric/activated moods. This was done twice daily for one week. A comparison group of 31 non-perinatal women without depression or premenstrual symptoms completed identical mood diaries for seven consecutive weeks. Mood instability was represented by the mean square successive difference statistic.

      Results

      Perinatal women showed higher mean levels of depressed, irritable, anxious, and high mood instability than the non-perinatal women. The findings held when pregnant women who were depressed were removed from the comparison, except that the difference in depressed mood instability was no longer significant.

      Conclusions

      Wider fluctuation in mood in pregnant and postnatal women is consistent with the common belief that perinatal women are moodier than non-perinatal women.

      Résumé

      Objectif

      Pour mieux comprendre les modifications de l’humeur pendant la grossesse et la période postpartum, nous avons étudié l’instabilité de l’humeur au sein d’un groupe de femmes pendant la période périnatale, ainsi qu’au sein d’un groupe de femmes n’étant pas enceintes et connaissant des règles normales.

      Méthodes

      Les femmes se trouvant en période périnatale (n = 45) ont rempli l’échelle Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale à 16 semaines et à 30 semaines de gestation, ainsi que quatre semaines à la suite de l’accouchement. Immédiatement après avoir rempli l’échelle Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, les participantes ont également rempli un journal sur l’humeur au moyen d’échelles visuelles analogues distinctes en ce qui concerne les états suivants : déprimée, irritable, anxieuse et euphorique / activée. Ce journal a été rempli deux fois par jour, pendant une semaine. Un groupe de comparaison comptant 31 femmes ne se trouvant pas en période périnatale et ne présentant pas de symptômes dépressifs ou prémenstruels ont rempli des journaux sur l’humeur identiques pendant sept semaines consécutives. L’instabilité de l’humeur a été représentée par la moyenne du carré des différences successives.

      Résultats

      Les femmes se trouvant en période périnatale ont montré des taux moyens plus élevés d’instabilité de l’humeur de type dépressif, irritable, anxieux et euphorique que les femmes ne se trouvant pas en période périnatale. Ces résultats sont demeurés les mêmes lorsque les femmes enceintes déprimées ont été retirées de la comparaison, à l’exception du fait que la différence en matière d’instabilité de l’humeur de type dépressif n’était alors plus significative.

      Conclusions

      La constatation d’une fluctuation élargie de l’humeur chez les femmes enceintes et se trouvant en période postpartum concorde avec la croyance commune voulant que les femmes se trouvant en période périnatale soient plus susceptibles de présenter une instabilité de l’humeur que les femmes ne se trouvant pas en période périnatale.

      Key Words

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      Article info

      Publication history

      Accepted: August 7, 2012
      Received: April 17, 2012

      Footnotes

      Competing Interests: None declared.

      Identification

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1701-2163(16)35433-0

      Copyright

      © 2012 Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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