Stress in pregnancy 'makes child personality disorder more likely'

  06 September 2019    Read: 2972
  Stress in pregnancy

The children of women who experience severe stress when pregnant are nearly 10 times more likely to develop a personality disorder by the age of 30, a study suggests, reported citing BBC News.

Even moderate prolonged stress may have an impact on child development and continue after a baby's birth, it said.



Other important factors, such as how children are brought up, the family's financial situation and trauma experienced during childhood, are known to contribute to the development of personality disorders and could have played a role.

What is a personality disorder?

It means that certain aspects of someone's personality make life difficult for them and for other people.

They can be overly anxious or emotionally unstable, for example, or paranoid or anti-social - there are a wide range of types.

Personality disorders are thought to affect about one in 20 people.



What did the study do?




When those children turned 30, any diagnoses of personality disorder were noted - there were 40 in total, which were all severe cases involving admission to hospital.

What did it find out about stress?



Those exposed to moderate stress had four times the chances.


Why is stress damaging?

It's not known how stress in pregnant women could increase the risk of personality disorders - it could be down to changes caused in the brain or the result of inherited genes, or a number of other factors in the children's upbringing.



What can be done?


"If stress isn't tackled, there is a high chance it will spill into the post-natal period," she said.

"It's a really sensitive thing to talk about.

"We don't want parents to think they are damaging their children - but high levels of stress do affect us."


How can stress be reduced during pregnancy?

Women should be supported at home and work during pregnancy and given coping strategies for when they were stressed, Dr Seneviratne said.



More advice is available from the Royal College of Psychiatrists' website and NHS UK.

And after the birth?




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