Celibacy and Fertility Rates in Patients With Major Affective Disorders: The Relevance of Delusional Symptoms and Suicidal Behaviour

The celibacy & fertility rates of 186 patients with affective disorders were analyzed to determine the presence or absence of histories of mood congruent delusions or suicidal behavior in the depressive phases of the disease. A lower fertility rate was found for suicide attempters, & to a lesser degree, for delusional depressives. The differences were apparently not attributable to the length of the fertile period of life spent in illness. (VM)