Risk factors for suicide in new mothers

Although suicide by mothers after the birth of a child is very rare its effects are profound and terrible. Researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine compared 335 women who had been hospitalized for suicide attempts with a control group of 1420 women. The researchers found that women who had previously been hospitalized for psychiatric disorders were more than 27 times as likely to attempt suicide. Women with a history of substance abuse were six times as likely to attempt suicide while psychiatric hospitalization and substance abuse together increased the risk by 11 times.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/08/07/risk-of-post-partum-suicide/2711.html