Scientists have long believed that since schizophrenia is associated with abnormal brain structure and functioning that a mothers’ stress during pregnancy could adversely affect brain development in the fetus, even causing mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Now there is strong evidence to support these assumptions. According to a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry, people born to a mother who experienced the death of a relative during the first trimester of pregnancy have a 67% greater risk of developing schizophrenia.
The researchers looked at data from 1.38 million births in order to study the effects of highly stressful situations during pregnancy on the development of mental illness. Of these 1.38 million, 21,987 of the children were born to mothers who experienced the death of a relative during the first trimester of pregnancy and 14, 206 children were born to mothers who experienced a relative having a serious illness such as cancer. Of the 1.38 million, 7,331 of the children went on to develop schizophrenia. The study went on to say “the association between a family death and risk of schizophrenia appeared to be significant only for individuals without a family history (parents, grandparents or siblings) of mental illness”. In addition, the death of relative at six months before or any other time during pregnancy was not found to be related to the development of schizophrenia in offspring.
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Stress Levels in Pregnant Women affects development of … : Anxiety-Stress (2/17/2008)
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“Stress Levels in Pregnant Women affect development of Schizophrenia in offspring”
Let’s see. During my first pregnancy, my then husband hit me, including trying to hurt the fetus by throwing a book and a crutch at my abdomen; also, my dad died. During my second, my then husband was so horrible to me that I moved into the basement, so I had to crawl up the stairs when I went into premature labor. He hit me between the first and the second pregnancies. He missed the first birth because he went to his high school reunion; he was there for the second, but shortly thereafter I started planning how to get rid of him because of severe emotional abuse. I was the sole support of my family during both of these pregnancies. Stress and pregnancy? I always tell teens to be extra nice to their wives when they’re pregnant. I never had the joy of that experience. No schizophrenics yet.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 17 Feb 2008
