Moods of pregnant and nonpregnant heroin addicts.

Pregnant addicts were hypothesized to experience more tension than nonpregnant addicts because they had the additional worry of how narcotics might affect their fetuses. A sample of 52 women who entered an especially developed service for pregnant addicts was administered the Profile of Mood States (POMS); 20 persons were daily heroin users and 32 were transfers from methadone maintenance programs. The pregnant addicts' POMS scores and background characteristics were compared to those of 276 nonpregnant women who sought methadone maintenance. None of the background characteristics differentiated between the two groups. Although the mean levels of the women's moods were comparable to those of psychiatric outpatients, there was only a trend toward the pregnant women being more tense and anxious than the nonpregnant women. The conclusion was drawn that the moods of the pregnant and nonpregnant addicts were comparable.