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Childbirth and the psychiatric disorders anorexia and depression can affect a woman's sex life, but in different ways, a New Zealand-led study suggests.
Research led by Dr Frances Carter of Otago University's Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences has shown that women with mental health conditions, including serious depression and eating disorders, tend to report more problems with their sex life than other women do. The same has been found in studies of new mothers.
But the nature of this sexual dysfunction has not been clear. In the study, researchers found that women with either anorexia or depression typically had sex more frequently than new mothers did.
They were, however, more likely to report having "problems" during sex, according to findings published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
The study results are based on questionnaire responses from 76 women who had taken part in three previous, separate studies and included 10 women with anorexia; 24 women with serious depression; and 42 women who'd given birth within the past two months. All of the women were married or in stable relationships.
Overall, Dr Carter's team found that 80 per cent and 79 per cent of women with anorexia or depression, respectively, said they had had sex in the past two weeks, compared with only half of the new mothers.
On the other hand, none of the women in the postnatal group said they had any problems during sex, while roughly one third of those with anorexia or depression said they did.
- REUTERS
