A considerable number of women experience psychological distress during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Although it has been suggested that such disorders are Western culture-bound syndromes, there is evidence that peripartum disorders are common in many societies. This overview presents transcultural data on the prevalence of psychiatric dis orders in childbearing women, and examines cross-cultural variation in risk factors, including parity, marital relations, and social support. The special circumstances of immigrant and refugee mothers are discussed. There is a need to develop new social structures because traditional customs which provided instrumental support and social recognition to new mothers are less often practiced in modern and modernizing societies.
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