Do patients with psychotic disorders have children?
There are few accurate reports of the incidence of pregnancy among patients with severe mental illness (Apfel & Handel, 1993). It has been traditionally assumed that patients with psychotic disorders have lower fertility rates than other individuals of child-bearing age. This has been thought to be due partly to biological aspects of the disorder itself, neuroleptic medication and also living in separate gender wards in the older hospitals. With the advent of community care, atypical antipsychotics and changing attitudes more patients may be having children. Recent studies have demonstrated conflicting results on whether fertility is lower in patients with psychotic disorders compared with healthy controls (Pancheri et al, 1990; Jonsson, 1991; Lane et al, 1995; Nimganonkar et al, 1997) and although this debate is not resolved, several studies report that patients with psychiatric disorders are involved in caring for their children. For example, 9% of adult female patients with severe m
