TY - JOUR T1 - Intrusive thoughts and images of intentional harm to infants in the context of maternal postnatal depression, anxiety, and OCD JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 376 LP - 377 DO - 10.3399/bjgp17X692105 VL - 67 IS - 661 AU - Peter J Lawrence AU - Michelle G Craske AU - Claire Kempton AU - Anne Stewart AU - Alan Stein Y1 - 2017/08/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/67/661/376.abstract N2 - Intrusive thoughts are key features of depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).1 Such thoughts are also common in the general population, where their content is the same as found in those with a psychiatric disorder. Intrusive thoughts comprise unwanted negative thoughts and images that frequently intrude, are difficult to dismiss, and, when dismissed, recur. Furthermore, they lead to a narrowed focus of attention that, in turn, can impair a person’s ability to respond to the external world. They can play an important role in maintaining the disorders in which they occur.2One form of intrusive thoughts that is particularly distressing in the postnatal period is of intentionally harming one’s infant (Box 1). Such thoughts and images have been reported to occur in very nearly half of parents of infants in the general population.3 Although such intrusions are not in themselves indicative of risk, they are likely to be of particular significance when they occur as part of depression, anxiety disorders, or OCD, where they are often associated with great distress and shame. Although much of the research in this area has been with mothers, these intrusive thoughts also frequently occur in fathers.4Box 1. Specific content of intrusive thoughts of intentionally harming one’s infantShaking the baby.Hitting the baby too hard during winding.Throwing the baby to the ground or against a wall.Puncturing the infant’s fontanelle.Drowning the baby in the bath.Smothering the baby, for example, with a baby’s milk bottle or pillow.Releasing the baby in a pram from … ER -