Psychiatric morbidity in mothers attending maternal and child health clinics in Abeokuta, Nigeria.

The prevalence rate for psychiatric morbidity in post-partum women attending two maternal and child health clinics in Abeokuta was found to be 6.1%. The cases and the non-cases as determined by a two-stage screening of psychopathology and clinical interview showed that anxiety states and depressive neurosis were the main psychiatric disorders amongst the cohort. In the comparison of various sociodemographic and obstetric variable between the two sub-groups, single (unmarried) status was found to be the only differentiating variable. The low prevalence of psychiatric morbidity was explained in the context of the socio-cultural and emotional implications of childbirth and mothering in the post-natal period in this environment.