Non-Psychotic Psychiatric Disorder After Childbirth

1988 ◽  
Vol 152 (6) ◽  
pp. 799-806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Cooper ◽  
Elizabeth A. Campbell ◽  
Ann Day ◽  
Helen Kennerley ◽  
Alison Bond
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Population Sample ◽  
General Population Sample ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Psychiatric Disturbance ◽  
Full Sample ◽  
Psychiatric State ◽  
State Examination

The psychiatric state of 483 women was examined antenatally and at 3, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Comprehensive assessments were made of all women antenatally and of subgroups of the full sample postnatally. Psychiatric state was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire, the Present State Examination and the Montgomery and åsberg Depression Rating Scale. In terms of PSE criteria, the point prevalence of non-psychotic psychiatric disorder antenatally was found to be 6.0%; and postnatally it was estimated to be 8.7% at 3 months, 8.8% at 6 months and 5.2% at 12 months after delivery. These prevalence rates were compared to the rate in a general population sample of non-puerperal women and found to be no greater. In a subgroup of the full sample, the incidence of psychiatric disorder in the year following delivery was estimated to be 15.1%, which is close to a figure previously reported for women in the community. The onset of psychiatric disturbance was soon after delivery in most instances; and, for the majority, the episode of disturbance lasted for 3 months or less. The distribution of PSE Catego classes and syndromes among the antenatal and postnatal samples were found to be similar to those in the non-puerperal comparison sample. Thus, the prevalence, incidence, and nature of non-psychotic psychiatric disorder in the 12 months following delivery do not appear to distinguish it from such disorders arising at other times.

Severity of Psychiatric Disorder and the 30-Item General Health Questionnaire

1979 ◽  
Vol 134 (6) ◽  
pp. 609-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Finlay-Jones ◽  
Elaine Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
General Health ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
False Negatives ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Threshold Score ◽  
Adverse Life Event ◽  
Chronic Disorders ◽  
State Examination

SummaryThe 30-item General Health Questionnaire misclassified 26 per cent of respondents in two samples of women who were interviewed by a psychiatrist using the Present State Examination. False negatives were likely to be women with chronic disorders, particularly anxiety states. False positives were likely to be distressed by severe physical illness, a recent adverse life event, or loneliness. Applying a higher threshold score to their GHQ, responses would help to separate those with a diagnosable psychiatric disorder from those in states of distress.

scholarly journals Teenage Pregnancy: Doubts, Uncertainties and Psychiatric Disturbance

1991 ◽  
Vol 84 (12) ◽  
pp. 723-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Maskey
Keyword(s):  
Locus Of Control ◽  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Teenage Pregnancy ◽  
General Health ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Psychiatric Disturbance ◽  
Control Scale ◽  
Attitude Scales

Fifty-two pregnant teenagers were assessed at ‘booking’ using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 28), a locus of control scale, and five visual analogue ‘attitude scales’. Thirty-eight were in the antenatal and 14 in the termination clinic. One quarter had probable psychiatric disorder on the GHQ. The GHQ scores correlated significantly with indecision about the planned outcome of pregnancy (whether termination or full term). Locus of control correlated with the Depression scale of the GHQ but not with attitude to pregnancy or choice of termination or delivery. Clinic staff should be alert to the psychiatric risks when seeing teenagers who have marked doubts about their plans when pregnant.

The Effects of Non-Prescribing of Anxiolytics in General Practice: I. Controlled Evaluation of Psychiatric and Social Outcome

1984 ◽  
Vol 144 (6) ◽  
pp. 593-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Catalan ◽  
Dennis Gath ◽  
Gillian Edmonds ◽  
John Ennis
Keyword(s):  
General Practice ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Drug Group ◽  
Mood States ◽  
Profile Of Mood States ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Social Outcome ◽  
Controlled Evaluation ◽  
Psychiatric State ◽  
State Examination

SummaryNinety one patients with new episodes of minor affective disorder were selected by their general practitioners as suitable for anxiolytic medication. Half the patients were allocated randomly to a drug-group (anxiolytic medication), and half to a non-drug group (brief counselling without anxiolytics). Psychiatric and social assessments were made (i) at initial consultation when treatment was started; (ii) one month later; (iii) seven months later. Before treatment the two groups were similar on all main variables. On the General Health Questionnaire, 85 per cent of patients were psychiatric cases before treatment, 40 per cent at one month and 30 per cent at seven months. Similar improvements were found with other measures of psychiatric state (Profile of Mood States; Present State Examination) and social functioning (SAS-M). Improvements were similar and parallel in the two groups. Neither group of patients increased their consumption of alcohol, tobacco or non-prescribed drugs. The non-drug group did not make increased demands on the doctors' time.

Validation of the 30-item General Health Questionnaire in postpartum women

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 409-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. N. Nott ◽  
S. Cutts
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
General Health ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Slight Modification ◽  
Screening Instrument ◽  
Postpartum Women ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Psychiatric Interview ◽  
General Practices ◽  
At Home

SynopsisTwo hundred consecutive women from five Southampton general practices who were between 8 and 14 weeks postpartum were visited at home. Each subject was given the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) and a standardized psychiatric interview. Thirty-seven (18%) were identified as ‘cases’ by the psychiatric interview. Eighty-nine (44.5%) scored highly on the GHQ. Analysis of the results indicates that slight modification of the content and a raised cut-off point of the GHQ-30 make it a useful screening instrument for postpartum psychiatric disorder.

Some psychological concomitants of chronic bronchitis

1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenda M. Rutter
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Chronic Bronchitis ◽  
Social Desirability ◽  
Personality Trait ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Psychiatric Disturbance ◽  
Eysenck Personality Inventory ◽  
Response Set

SynopsisThirty chronic bronchitic patients with severe airways obstruction were individually matched with non-bronchitic controls from the general population. The 2 groups were compared using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to assess non-psychotic psychiatric disturbance, the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPI) to assess personality traits, and the Marlowe–Crowne (M–C) scale plus the L (Lie) scale of the EPI to assess social-desirability response set. Chronic bronchitic patients were both more psychiatrically disturbed and more neurotic in personality than were their matched controls; but there were no differences between the 2 groups on the personality trait of extraversion or on measure of social desirability response set. The results are discussed in the context of both chronic bronchitis specifically and chronic illness in general, and future investigations are proposed.

Validation of the General Health Questionnaire in a young community sample

1983 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 349-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael H. Banks
Keyword(s):  
General Health ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Continuous Variable ◽  
General Factor ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Relative Independence ◽  
The Social ◽  
Misclassification Rates ◽  
State Examination

SYNOPSISValidity coefficients of the 30-item, 28-item and 12-item versions of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) were determined by comparison with the Present State Examination (PSE) in a sample of 200 17-year-olds. The PSE classified 7 people (3·5%) as cases, although only 47% were identified as free of symptoms. Misclassification rates, sensitivity and specificity values are presented for different cutting scores for the three versions of the GHQ. The GHQ-28 had superior values, especially with a cutting score of 5/6; the GHQ-12 with a 2/3 cutting score also had acceptable values. All versions of the GHQ correlated highly with the PSE Index of Definition and total scores, providing support for the treatment of GHQ scores as a continuous variable in this kind of population. Correlations between sub-scales of the GHQ-28 give further evidence for a general factor and the relative independence of the social dysfunction sub-scale.

Life Events and Psychiatric Disorder: the Role of a Natural Disaster

1987 ◽  
Vol 151 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander C. McFarlane
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Psychiatric Illness ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Fire Fighters ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Examining the impact of natural disasters on psychological health provides an opportunity to study the role played by extreme adversity in the onset of psychiatric disorder. Four hundred and sixty-nine fire-fighters who had been intensely exposed to an Australian bushfire disaster completed a detailed inventory of their experiences four months later. They also completed a brief life events schedule and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Only 9% of the GHQ score variance could be accounted for by the disaster and other life events; the effects of the disaster appeared to be separate and additive. This is similar to the relationship between life events and psychiatric illness found in other settings. It is suggested that vulnerability is a more important factor in breakdown than the degree of stress experienced.

Comparison of the General Health Questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale

1990 ◽  
Vol 157 (6) ◽  
pp. 860-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glyn Lewis ◽  
Simon Wessely
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
General Health Questionnaire ◽  
Depression Scale ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Health Questionnaire ◽  
Criterion Measure ◽  
Hospital Anxiety ◽  
Latent Construct ◽  
Specificity And Sensitivity

The specificity and sensitivity of the HAD, 12-item GHQ and CIS were calculated by comparing the scores of dermatological patients on these tests with a criterion measure of disorder. Since psychiatry, along with many other branches of medicine, does not have an error-free criterion, it was assumed that the criterion was an underlying latent construct which was measured by all of the tests and could be derived by factor analysis from the scores on them. No differences were found between the two questionnaires (HAD and GHQ) in their ability to detect cases of minor psychiatric disorder although they were somewhat less reliable than the CIS.

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