PERCEPTUAL DEFENSE AND VULNERABILITY TO POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION

The objective was to assess the relationship between vulnerability to postpartum depression and perceptual defense evoked by tachistoscopic stimuli alluding to perinatal themes in pregnant women. Tachistoscopic stimuli have been shown to produce different thresholds of conscious identification according to their emotional content: a phenomenon term ed perceptual defense. A total of 412 women in their 3rd of 4th month of pregnancy were asked to identify 14 pictures and 18 verbal stimuli shown for initially very brief but increasing durations. Presentation times required for a correct identification were measured. Depression was assessed, at 2 and 6 months postdelivery, by the Hamilton Depressi on Rating Scale: 53 women were defined as depressed by a score greater than or equal to 15. Discriminant analysis showed that the women who would become depressed 7 to 11 months later were slower than the nonde pressed to identify 5 stimuli alluding to pregnancy, sexuality or a fa ther image. Particular attitudes towards the themes of being pregnant, of sexuality and of the father could be components of a psychological predisposition to the development of depressed mood in the postpartum .