Pregnant women with nonorganic psychosis: life situation and experience of pregnancy.

Eighty-eight index women with a history of nonorganic psychosis and 104 demographically similar control women were interviewed during pregnancy after quickening concerning their experience of pregnancy and their current life situation. The index group, compared with controls, reported a significantly increased frequency of material-situational problems, interpersonal difficulties and a lack of support for the pregnancy among the spouse and the woman's parents, an initially unplanned and undesired pregnancy, a negative attitude toward the pregnancy after quickening, moderate-to-heavy smoking, nervousness and anxiety, panic about the delivery, and great concern about their own mental health in the near future. No significant difference between groups was found on frequency of typical pregnancy symptoms, the experienced effect of pregnancy on physical health or concerns about the child's health or mothering.