Depression in women suffering perinatal loss

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Abstract
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.

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