Sexuality, pregnancy, and childrearing among women with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.
TL;DR: Health care delivery systems could better meet the needs of women with severe mental illness by providing social skills training, family planning, and more consistent screening for pregnancy, HIV, and battering.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: This study compared sexuality, reproduction, and childrearing characteristics of women with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders with those of women without serious mental illness. METHODS: A semistructured interview was given to 46 women meeting Research Diagnostic Criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and to 50 control subjects without major mental illness who were matched for age, race, education, employment status, and religion. RESULTS: Compared with the control subjects, the women with schizophrenic disorders had more lifetime sexual partners, were less likely to have a current partner, and were more likely to have been raped and to have engaged in prostitution. Despite being at high risk for HIV infection, as a group they were less likely to have been tested for HIV. They reported wanting sex less often than did control subjects and rated their physical and emotional satisfaction with sex lower. They had fewer planned pregnancies, more unwanted pregnancies, and more abortions and were more often victims of violence during pregnancy. They were more likely to have lost custody of children and to report that they were unable to meet their children's basic needs and less likely to have another caregiver helping them raise their children. Both groups reported high rates of substance abuse during pregnancy. CONCLUSIONS: Health care delivery systems could better meet the needs of women with severe mental illness by providing social skills training, family planning, and more consistent screening for pregnancy, HIV, and battering. In addition, barriers to care for pregnant women with severe mental illness and substance abuse should be reduced, and parenting training should be incorporated into psychosocial rehabilitation programs for mentally ill parents. Language: en
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The Catholic University of America1, Albert Einstein College of Medicine2, University of Oviedo3, Favaloro University4, University of Groningen5, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich6, Mental Health Foundation7, Washington University in St. Louis8, Nnamdi Azikiwe University9, Technische Universität München10
TL;DR: Prevalence rates of different physical illnesses as well as important individual lifestyle choices, side effects of psychotropic treatment and disparities in health care access, utilization and provision that contribute to these poor physical health outcomes are reported.
1,895 citations
Cites background from "Sexuality, pregnancy, and childrear..."
...(percentages ranging from 17% to 47%) have been tested in the past year (378-394)....
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TL;DR: The research addressing the relationship of childhood trauma to psychosis and schizophrenia is reviewed, and the theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
Abstract: Objective: To review the research addressing the relationship of childhood trauma to psychosis and schizophrenia, and to discuss the theoretical and clinical implications.
Method: Relevant studies and previous review papers were identified via computer literature searches.
Results: Symptoms considered indicative of psychosis and schizophrenia, particularly hallucinations, are at least as strongly related to childhood abuse and neglect as many other mental health problems. Recent large-scale general population studies indicate the relationship is a causal one, with a dose-effect.
Conclusion: Several psychological and biological mechanisms by which childhood trauma increases risk for psychosis merit attention. Integration of these different levels of analysis may stimulate a more genuinely integrated bio-psycho-social model of psychosis than currently prevails. Clinical implications include the need for staff training in asking about abuse and the need to offer appropriate psychosocial treatments to patients who have been abused or neglected as children. Prevention issues are also identified.
1,422 citations
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...1996 (75) op 120 56 26 59 77 38 Miller and Finnerty 1996 (76) sc 44 36 Wurr and Partridge 1996 (77) 63 52 17 Briere et al....
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TL;DR: The lifespan of people with schizophrenia is shortened compared to the general population, and the literature on comorbid physical diseases in schizophrenia to provide a basis for initiatives to fight this unacceptable situation.
Abstract: Objective: The lifespan of people with schizophrenia is shortened compared to the general population. We reviewed the literature on comorbid physical diseases in schizophrenia to provide a basis for initiatives to fight this unacceptable situation.
Method: We searched MEDLINE (1966 – May 2006) combining the MeSH term of schizophrenia with the 23 MeSH terms of general physical disease categories to identify relevant epidemiological studies.
Results: A total of 44 202 abstracts were screened. People with schizophrenia have higher prevalences of HIV infection and hepatitis, osteoporosis, altered pain sensitivity, sexual dysfunction, obstetric complications, cardiovascular diseases, overweight, diabetes, dental problems, and polydipsia than the general population. Rheumatoid arthritis and cancer may occur less frequently than in the general population. Eighty-six per cent of the studies came from industrialized countries limiting the generalizability of the findings.
Conclusion: The increased frequency of physical diseases in schizophrenia might be on account of factors related to schizophrenia and its treatment, but undoubtedly also results from the unsatisfactory organization of health services, from the attitudes of medical doctors, and the social stigma ascribed to the schizophrenic patients.
591 citations
TL;DR: Much more research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn about whether childhood trauma is a cause of psychosis, and a small number of recent population-based studies provide more robust evidence of an association.
Abstract: There is renewed interest in the relationship between early childhood trauma and risk of psychosis in adulthood. There are a large number of studies of psychiatric inpatients, and of outpatients in which a majority have a psychotic disorder, that suggest the prevalence of childhood trauma in these populations is high. However, these are generally small studies of diagnostically heterogeneous and chronic samples and, as such, can tell us very little about whether childhood trauma is of etiological importance in psychosis. A small number of recent population-based studies provide more robust evidence of an association, and there are now plausible biological mechanisms linking childhood trauma and psychosis. However, there remain a number of conceptual and methodological issues, which mean much more research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn about whether childhood trauma is a cause of psychosis.
548 citations
TL;DR: The evidence regarding the epidemiology, risk factors, and treatment of severe mental illness in relation to childbirth, focusing on bipolar disorder, affective psychosis, and schizophrenia is summarised.
414 citations