Psychosomatic Medicine 30:222-237 (1968)
© 1968 American Psychosomatic Society

The Role of Emotional Factors in Obstetric Complications: A Review

¹ Emory University School of Medicine and the Georgia Mental Health Institute, Atlanta, Ga.

This paper explores the relationship between emotional factors and "psychogenic" obstetric complications (those involving no discernible physical cause) by reviewing the pertinent articles that have appeared during primarily the past 15 years. The literature provides no conclusive evidence of causal relationships between emotional factors and such complications. The most consistent findings were that women who subsequently experienced any of a variety of obstetric complications had higher anxiety levels and used fewer repressive-type defenses than women who experienced normal pregnancies and deliveries. These findings are discussed in terms of the presumed causal role of emotional factors in psychogenic obstetric complications.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				E. M. KRAMPE and P. D. FAIRWEATHER Father Presence and Family Formation: A Theoretical Reformulation Journal of Family Issues, December 1, 1993; 14(4): 572 - 591. [Abstract]

				N. C. Gunter and R. C. Labarba Maternal and Perinatal Effects of Adolescent Childbearing International Journal of Behavioral Development, September 1, 1981; 4(3): 333 - 357. [Abstract] [PDF]

				D. B. Carlson and R. C. Labarba Maternal Emotionality During Pregnancy and Reproductive Outcome: A Review of the Literature International Journal of Behavioral Development, December 1, 1979; 2(4): 343 - 376. [Abstract] [PDF]