Pregnancy may trigger or worsen OCD symptoms
When the researchers looked at pregnancies among women with pre-existing OCD, they found that the women’s OCD symptoms worsened one-third of the time. (In a smaller number of pregnancies—22 percent—symptoms actually improved.)
The study also found that women whose pre-pregnancy OCD typically got worse in the premenstrual period were at greater risk of exacerbations during pregnancy. That finding, the researchers say, supports the notion that there is a “hormone-related” subtype of OCD that affects some women.
