A Pilot Study Assessing the Relationship Between Child Harming Thoughts and Postpartum Depression

This pilot study explored relationships between postpartum mood and child harming thoughts. Fifty mothers from an outpatient pediatric office completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised (PDPI-R), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Participants also completed the Child Thoughts Inventory (CTI), a modified version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (Y-BOCS) and Florida Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (FOCI). Results indicated significant positive correlations between postpartum depression and anxiety and frequency and intensity of child harming thoughts. In addition, having a poor self-view was significantly correlated with intensity of child harming thoughts and previous anxiety was correlated with both frequency and intensity of child harming thoughts. Despite the fact that mothers experiencing postpartum mood disturbances rarely harm their infants the findings of this pilot study suggest that these women may have frequent and intense ego-dystonic thoughts about harming their children. Results also suggest that postpartum depression and anxiety may share similar cognitive processes.