Postpartum Disorders And Maternal Aggression ?
Q: Parliament introduced the
Infanticide Act, which reduced the crime automatically from murder to manslaughter
on the basis of insanity if a mother "had not fully recovered from the effect of
giving birth to such child, but by reason thereof the balance of her mind was then
disturbed." The point of the Infanticide Act was not that British doctors had
suddenly discovered a link between postpartum hormones and violent behavior.
A:Studies consistently show,
for example, that preexisting histories of depression and life stress are a
common denominator in women with postpartum mental disorders. But psychiatrist
J.H. Morton defended the diagnosis of "lactational insanity" as being acceptable
to conservative judges and barristers. I was never proposed that the Infanticide
Act forgive mothers for killing older children, spouses or others, even while
said to be suffering from the same insanity.
Adopting the discreet position of British psychiatrists, the American Psychiatric
Association views childbirth as simply a trigger for a variety of psychiatric
conditions. The APA bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM-IV), has no listing for postpartum psychosis but cites "postpartum onset" for
certain mental illnesses, such as bipolar disorder