Pregnancy following a prior pregnancy loss: exploring symptoms of anxiety, depression, trauma and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Pregnancy loss is a common and intense personal event that has been found to be a risk factor for increased symptoms of perinatal distress. In the current study, we hypothesize that levels of anxiety, trauma, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms will be higher in pregnant individuals who had a pregnancy loss in their most recent previous pregnancy (n = 67) when compared to pregnant individuals whose most recent previous pregnancy resulted in a live birth (n = 71). Participants responded to an online questionnaire about reproductive and mental health history, symptoms of perinatal distress (anxiety, trauma, depression, and obsessive-compulsive), and measures of psychological vulnerabilities (perfectionism and self-compassion). A measure for depression was included for sample characterization and then examined in post-hoc analyses. Findings demonstrate that pregnant individuals with a recent pregnancy loss endorsed significantly more depressive symptoms compared to individuals with a recent live birth. A small to medium non-significant effect in the anticipated direction was found between symptoms of perinatal anxiety and previous pregnancy outcome. No significant group differences for trauma or obsessive-compulsive symptoms were found between groups. Results of moderation analyses indicated that the experience of a pregnancy loss in the most recent previous pregnancy was associated with a stronger inverse relationship between self-compassion and perinatal depression. Overall, our study results suggest that the experience of loss in the most recent pregnancy is significantly associated with symptoms of depression in subsequent pregnancies, and that self-compassion may serve as a protective factor, buffering the impact of prior pregnancy loss on depressive symptoms.