EFFECTS OF CHILDBEARING ON THE NATURAL-HISTORY OF PANIC DISORDER WITHCOMORBID MOOD DISORDER

This historical prospective study included 22 women with panic disorde r. They experienced 45 pregnancies associated with or after their firs t lifetime episode of panic disorder. Mood disorder predated or was as sociated with 32 of these pregnancies. The most common effect of pregn ancy was No Change in symptoms from baseline during pregnancy and cont inued No Change postnatally for both panic attacks (n = 22; 49%) and d epression (n = 19; 59%). The pattern of panic attacks across gestation s was consistent for only 5 of 14 multiparae. An interesting observati on was that first lifetime onset of panic disorder was common postpart um (n = 4) or post-miscarriage (n = 2). First-onset depression was als o common postpartum (n = 4)