The Psychosomatics of Puerperal Stress

Abstract

At first sight, it might appear that any consideration of the diagnostic classification of puerperal psychiatric illness could have little relevance to a discussion of the psychosomatic nature of these illnesses. However, I hope to show that it may, in fact, shed some light on the relative importance of psychic and somatic factors in the aetiology, and even more importantly, point the way towards more productive research in this area.