Intrusive thoughts and images of intentional harm to infants in the context of maternal postnatal depression, anxiety, and OCD

Lawrence, Peter J., Craske, Michelle G., Kempton, Claire, Stewart, Anne and Stein, Alan (2017) Intrusive thoughts and images of intentional harm to infants in the context of maternal postnatal depression, anxiety, and OCD. British Journal of General Practice, 67 (661), 376-377. (doi:10.3399/bjgp17X692105).

Abstract

Intrusive thoughts are key features of depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).1 Such thoughts are also common in the general population, where their content is the same as found in those with a psychiatric disorder. Intrusive thoughts comprise unwanted negative thoughts and images that frequently intrude, are difficult to dismiss, and, when dismissed, recur. Furthermore, they lead to a narrowed focus of attention that, in turn, can impair a person’s ability to respond to the external world. They can play an important role in maintaining the disorders in which they occur.2

One form of intrusive thoughts that is particularly distressing in the postnatal period is of intentionally harming one’s infant (Box 1). Such thoughts and images have been reported to occur in very nearly half of parents of infants in the general population.3 Although such intrusions are not in themselves indicative of risk, they are likely to be of particular significance when they occur as part of depression, anxiety disorders, or OCD, where they are often associated with great distress and shame. Although much of the research in this area has been with mothers, these intrusive thoughts also frequently occur in fathers.4

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Contributors

Author: Peter J. Lawrence

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