[Course of chronic paranoid delusions during pregnancy and post-partum]

In order to analyse the evolution of the mental state of patient suffering from chronic delirium, during their pregnancy and the postpartum period, we researched the medical history of some pregnant women about 50 pregnancies. It appears that the period preceding the birth is calm in the great majority of cases. However the delirium reappears in the days following the birth in a brutal fashion in nearly a third of the cases. No malformation in the child is found, but we should note there was one case of infanticide and one young baby was abandoned in the street. The delirium, often concerning the identity or the theft of the child, has necessitated the hospitalisation. The termination of psychotropic drugs is justified during the months of pregnancy. However it often brings with it, an end to psychiatric follow up and the absence of any return to treatment, which seems necessary to us immediately after the birth.