Psychological Responses of Women After First-Trimester Abortion

Major, Brenda; Cozzarelli, Catherine; Cooper, Melanie M.; Zubek, Josephine; Richards, Caroline; Wilhite, Michael; Gramzow, Richard H.

doi:10.1001/archpsyc.57.8.777

Cited by 240 publications

(177 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…An increase in feelings of dissatisfaction has been reported [3] from 10.8% at 1 month to 16.3% at 2 years postabortion. One of the few qualitative studies to examine this issue identified several patterns of reaction over 9 years after the event [11 ]with some describing the predicted pattern of reaction beginning with distress followed by relief while others reported no distress at any point.…”

Section: What Is the Usual Reaction To Abortion?mentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Some are cohort studies which identify women seeking abortion and carry out evaluations after a set period thereafter [3] while others use a nested case-control design [2]. Sourcing the data varies also with some using public databases such as the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth [4] or record linkage methods e.g.…”

Section: Presenting and Interpreting The Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…PAS has not yet been validated as a discrete entity with its own specific symptom constellation or longitudinal course that separates it from other psychiatric disorders. One investigator [3] specifically included questions about abortion specific nightmares, flashbacks and so forth during the final interview 2 years post-abortion and only 1% met the criteria for PTSD. PAS has received little research attention since then.…”

Section: What Is the Usual Reaction To Abortion?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Having a prior psychiatric history is most commonly cited [3] since a variety of stressful events can provoke recurrences in this group. Additional risk factors identified in the scientific literature are younger age and having other children pre-abortion, the presence of strong maternal instincts, coercion or ambivalence and cultures that are opposed to abortion [19] It is also widely acknowledged that abortion for foetal anomaly places women at risk of adverse psychological outcomes [20 21 as has the possible role of partner violence mediating the adverse consequences [8 22] See …”

Section: Who Is At Risk?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies have evaluated the emotional trajectory for women who have an abortion. These show that for most women distress is prominent prior to the abortion procedure and immediately following the operation there is a sense of relief [3]. Feelings such as "freedom" and "control again" have been used to describe the short term emotional reactions, that seem to persist after the event [7].…”

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confidence: 99%

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Abortion among young women and subsequent life outcomes

Casey¹

2010

Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecol

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Publication informationBest Practice and Research: Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 24 (4): 491-502Publisher Elsevier Item record/more information http://hdl.handle.net/10197/5799 Publisher's statementThis is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Best Practice and Research: Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Best Practice and Research: Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology (VOL 24, ISSUE 4, (2010) AbstractThis paper will discuss the nature of the association between abortion and mental health problems. Studies arguing that both side of the debate as to whether abortion per se is responsible will be presented. The prevalence of various psychiatric disorders will be outlined and where there is dispute between studies these will be highlighted. The impact of abortion on other areas such as education, partner relationships and sexual function will also be considered and the question as to whether abortion helps women's mental health will be addressed. Suggestions for early identification of illness will be made. The absence of specific interventions will be highlighted Word count: 7225 including practice points, research agenda, multiple choice questions and references 3 Abortion among young women and subsequent life outcomesInduced abortion is the most common surgical procedure in the Western World with an estimated 42 million pregnancy terminations taking place worldwide each year according to The Alan Guttmacher Institute. The relationship between abortion and subsequent life outcomes, particularly those relating to mental health outcomes, is one that has been discussed, often acrimoniously, in peer reviewed journals for several decades although this was hampered by significant methodological flaws in the earlier studies. It is an important question to resolve since an increase in the incidence of mental health problems post abortion would impact significantly on resources as well as on personal wellbeing.A number of questions present themselves in relation to the subsequent life outcome for women who terminate their pregnancies. These are:1. What is the usual emotional reaction to abortion? 2. Is there a specific psychiatric disorder associated abortion? 3. Is abortion associated with an increase in mental health problems and if so is the relationship a causal one? 4. What psychiatric disorders are associated with abortion? 5. Does abortion impact on social outcomes such as education, employment and relationships? 6. Does terminating an unwanted pregnancy help women's mental health? 7. What therapeutic interventions are available when a woman has an adverse reaction and do these have impact on subsequent life outcomes?Each of these questions will be considered in...

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Section: What Is the Usual Reaction To Abortion?mentioning

confidence: 96%