Abstract
Interest and research in the psychological aspects of spontaneous abortion was initiated by Javert in 1947, who found that 19% of women with recurrent abortion had psychological disorders.(1) During the following decade psychological factors in women who aborted habitually were thoroughly studied by Javert’s group in New York(2,3) and by another multidisciplinary group in Nova Scotia.(4) These investigations focused primarily on the personality of the women. The New York group found that the subjects with recurrent abortion showed remarkable similarities with respect to underlying personality characteristics and in their relationship to their family members. Their mothers were generally found to be the dominant parental figure, making the patients intensely motherdependent, while their fathers were more anonymous and “ineffective”, often lost to the patient during her childhood either through death, divorce or alcoholism.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Javert CT. Spontaneous and habitual abortion. New York: McGraw-Hili Book Company, Inc; 1957.
Mann EC. Habitual abortion: A report in two parts on 160 patients. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1959; 77: 706–718.
Grimm ER. Psychological investigation of habitual abortions. Psychosom Med 1962; 24: 369–378.
Weil RJ, Tupper C. Personality, life situation and communication. A study of habitual abortion. Psychosom Med 1960; 12: 448–455.
Kaij L, Malmquist A, Nilsson O. Psychiatric aspects of spontaneous abortion. II The importance of bereavement, attachment and neurosis in early life. J Psychsom Res 1969; 13: 53–59.
Hertz DG. Rejection of motherhood. A psychosomatic appraisal of habitual abortion. Psychosomatics 1973; 14: 241–244.
Coghi I, Pancheri P. Connolly AM. Dominici L, Nicotra M, Calella A, Vetrone G. Psychological variables in habitual abortion: A combined diagnostic-therapeutic approach. In: Emotion and reproduction. 5th intern. congress of psychosomatic obstetrics and gynecology. Eds. L. Carenza, L. Zichella. London: Academic Press, 1979; pp.289–295.
Hertz EK. Psychological repercussions of pregnancy loss. In: The Young Woman: Psychosomatic Aspects of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Eds. L. Dennertein, M de Senarchleus. Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica, 1983; pp.292–299.
Peppers LG, Knapp RJ. Maternal reactions to involuntary fetal/infant death. Psychiatry 1980; 43: 155–159.
Clayton P, Desmarais L, Winokur G. A study of bereavement. Am J Psychiatry 1968; 125: 168–178.
Stack JM. The psychodynamics of spontaneous abortion. Am J Orthpsychiatry 1984; 54: 162–167.
Seibel M, Graves WL. The psychological implications of spontaneous abortions, J Reprod Med 1980; 25: 161–165.
Lumley J. The development of maternal-foetal bonding in first pregnancy. In: Emotion and reproduction. 5th intern. congress of psychosomatic obstetrics and gynecology. Eds. L. Carenza, L. Zichella. London: Academic Press, 1979; pp. 1067–1069.
Stray-Pedersen B, Stray-Pedersen S. Etiologic factors and subsequent reproductive performance in 195 couples with a prior history of habitual abortion. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1984; 148: 140–146.
Purkiss R, Gannon K, Pearce S, Beard RW. Anxiety and recurrent miscarriagecause or effects. Br Med J 1987; In press.
Bouberg D, Ader R, Cohen N. Acquisition and extinction of conditioned suppression of graft-vs-host response in the rat. J Immunol 1984; 132: 111–115.
Kitzmiller J, Watt, N, Driscoll SG. Decidual arteriopathy in hypertension and diabetes in pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1981; 141: 773–779.
Althabe O, Labarrere C, Telenta M. Maternal vascular lesions in placentae of smallfor-gestational-age infants. Placenta 1985; 6: 265–276.
Bjøro K, Stray-Pedersen S. Effects of vasoactive autacoids on different segments of human umbilicoplacental vessels. Gynecol Obstet Invest 1986; 22: 1–6.
Polishuk WH, Sadovsky E, Pfeifer Y, Sulzman FG. Prevention of psychogenic serotonin abortion. In: Psychosomatic medicine in obstetrics and gynaecology. 3rd Intern Congress. Basel: Karger 1972; pp.189–191.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stray-Pedersen, B., Stray-Pedersen, S. (1988). Recurrent abortion: the role of psychotherapy. In: Sharp, F., Beard, R.W. (eds) Early Pregnancy Loss. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1658-5_60
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1658-5_60
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-1660-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-1658-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive