This study aimed at comparing anxiety and depression symptoms in mothers of malformed babies soon after their births and three months after hospital discharge. Seventeen mothers were assessed using Beck Depression Inventory and IDATE State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. These results indicated, as in others studies, that the mothers presented an increased anxiety and depression state soon after delivery and a significant reduction in these conditions and in clinical signs of anxiety three months after discharge. These results support the suggestion that there is a gradual adaptation of the mothers as they have a close contact with the child and a sense of maternal competence. Methodological limitations of the study are discussed as well as and the need of future researches to investigate which factors potentializes or moderated maternal adaptation.
maternal anxiety; maternal depression; malformed babies
