This study has arisen from an almost universal clinical observation that many mothers during the first few days of the puerperium show evidence of disturbed emotion. This has been variously described by such terms as “labile emotional reactions” (Millar, 1962), a hysteroid reaction (Robin, 1962), “an emotional lability and a tendency to a mild depression” (James, 1959). It would appear that obstetricians and midwives view these reactions as a natural phenomenon associated with childbirth.