Brief report Pre- and postnatal depression and coping: A comparative approach Claude de Tychey a, * , Elisabeth Spitz b , Serge Brianc ¸on c , JoJlle Lighezzolo d , Franc ¸oise Girvan e , Aurore Rosati e , Audrey Thockler e , Stephanie Vincent e a Clinical Psychology, GREPSA-Universite ´ Nancy 2-3 Place Godefroy de Bouilllon, 54015 Nancy Cedex, France b Health Psychology, Laboratoire de Psychologie-Universite ´ de Metz, France c Public Health, Ecole de Sante ´ Publique Henri Poincare ´, France d Conferences of Clinical Psychology, GREPSA-Universite ´ Nancy 2, France e GREPSA, France Received 28 June 2004; received in revised form 15 November 2004; accepted 15 November 2004 Abstract Background: The assessment of perinatal depressions and coping style. Methods : With depression scales (EPDS, GHQ.12) and Carver’s BriefCope, the authors compared the prevalence rates of pre and postnatal depression in a cohort of 277 French women. Results: Their work revealed very high levels of prenatal depression (almost 20%) and less important but nonetheless sizeable rates (11%) of postnatal depression, making such perinatal depressions a major public health concern. The coping styles proposed in Carver’s public health BriefCope questionnaire make it possible to significantly differentiate during these two periods between depressive women and their non-depressed counterparts. Conclusions: This enables us to underline factors of risk and protection suggesting the importance of setting up compensatory and preventive systems and evaluating their pertinence in the framework of future research. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Prenatal postnatal depression; Prevalence; Coping; Prevention 1. Introduction There are very few longitudinal studies (Manzano et al., 1997; Matthey et al., 2000) regarding the prevalence, incidence and evolution of depression during the pre- and postnatal periods, even though this temporal interval corresponds to a moment of major risk of psychiatric morbidity for women (Sharp, 1996). The objectives of this article are: – to discern, in comparison to other European countries (Switzerland, Scotland), the prevalence in France of prenatal and postnatal depression and to consider the continuity or the non-continuity between these two forms of depression. 0165-0327/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jad.2004.11.004 * Corresponding author. E-mail address: detychey@univ-nancy2.fr (C. de Tychey). Journal of Affective Disorders 85 (2005) 323 – 326 www.elsevier.com/locate/jad