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- Page navigation anchor for Intrusive thoughts of intentional harm to infants – it’s not the content that matters and referral to social services is the last thing parents needIntrusive thoughts of intentional harm to infants – it’s not the content that matters and referral to social services is the last thing parents needLawrence et al have written about intrusive and unwanted thoughts of intentional harm to infants in the context of maternal postnatal depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).1 We know that these thoughts are common in new parents, affecting almost 50% of mothers,2 but also fathers. Their advice to health professionals is to normalise these thoughts for concerned parents with reassurance and to understand that by themselves the thoughts signify nothing sinister. The thoughts become significant when they interfere with the ability to live a normal life because the level of distress is so high, linked to the personal meaning of having the thought, rather than the specific content. These parents have no intention of harming their child. This is very different from a “delusion”, when a mother with psychosis or depression absolutely believes that her thoughts are real.However, in the list of possible intrusive thoughts given in the paper they do not include common examples of the most violent and repugnant thoughts that parents can experience, such as sexual abuse and cutting with knives. As a result parents make elaborate plans to make sure these things cannot happen by avoiding changing nappies and refusing to cook for the examples above. Not surprisingly, co-morbidities with anxiety and depression are common. Parents are extremely unlikely to disclose these thoughts spontaneously...Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.