Clinical characteristics and mental health outcomes for women admitted to an Australian Mother–Baby Unit: a focus on borderline personality disorder and emotional dysregulation?

Abstract

Admission to this Mother-Baby Unit on mothers' self-report scales showed improvement in mothers' mental health and the relationship that they have with their infant. Given the high prevalence of borderline personality disorder and emotional dysregulation identified within the population, treatment implications and possible consequences for the infant are discussed for this client group.

Mothers and Their Infants Co‐admitted to a Newly Developed Mother–baby Unit: Characteristics and Outcomes

“…Similar to previous studies (Wilson et al., ; Yelland, Girke, Tottman, & Williams, ), our sample included a preponderance of first‐time mothers, admissions that occurred relatively early in the postnatal period, and a preponderance of women with depressive illnesses. Axis I comorbidity (68.9%) and co‐occurrence of Axis II psychopathology (38.9%) was high, similar to findings in other New Zealand and Australian studies (Wilson et al., ; Yelland et al., ), attesting to the complexity of presentations. Nearly all women improved during the course of admission, with a significant improvement in the majority (82.2%).…”

A systematic review of research on psychiatric mother-baby units

“…When specific MBUs were named in the 44 publications, it was evident that there are multiple sources collecting data from the same places: Bethlem Royal Hospital in South London, UK (Kenny et al 2013;Pawlby et al 2010;Seneviratne et al 2003), Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester, UK (Antonysamy, Wieck, and Wittkowski 2009;Neil, Sanderson, and Wieck 2006), Austin Hospital in Melbourne, Australia (Bilszta, Buist, Wang, and Zulkefli 2012;, Helen Mayo House in Adelaide, Australia (Connerty et al 2015;Yelland et al 2015); and unnamed MBUs in Belgium (Vliegen et al 2010;Vliegen et al 2013) and Manchester in the UK (Wan, Salmon et al 2007;Wan, Warburton et al 2007; highlights that aside from the larger scale Marcé database information, studies focus on a small number of MBUs.…”

“…Maternal mean age ranged from 24.25 years (Chandra et al 2015) to 33.5 years (Christl et al 2015), and infant mean age at time of admission ranged from 9.6 weeks (Glangeaud-Freudenthal et al 2013;GlangeaudFreudenthal et al 2011) to 7.82 months (Yelland et al 2015). Mean length of stay ranged from 6.93 days in a study in the US (Meltzer-Brody et al 2014) to 11.6 weeks in a study in Israel (Maizel et al 2005).…”

Impact of infant crying on mothers with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder: A qualitative study

“…Many may be mothers. Indeed, close to 50% of all mothers admitted to a mother-baby psychiatric unit (MBPU) within 36 months following the birth of a child display enduring traits of BPD, and 23.1% meet clinical diagnosis (Yelland, Girke, Tottman, & Sved Williams, 2015). For many, MBPU admission leads to learning of their diagnosis for the first time; for others, existing BPD symptoms are exacerbated in the perinatal period (Yelland et al, 2015).…”

“…Indeed, close to 50% of all mothers admitted to a mother-baby psychiatric unit (MBPU) within 36 months following the birth of a child display enduring traits of BPD, and 23.1% meet clinical diagnosis (Yelland, Girke, Tottman, & Sved Williams, 2015). For many, MBPU admission leads to learning of their diagnosis for the first time; for others, existing BPD symptoms are exacerbated in the perinatal period (Yelland et al, 2015). For the well-being of the mother and child, mental health practice extends the perinatal period to include conception through the infant's first birthday for mothers with a mental health disorder (Schmied et al, 2013;World Health Organization, 2016).…”