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Several possible studies

Story checked

Half of new parents have unwanted, intrusive thoughts of harming their infants. Research suggests most aren't dangerous. (opens in a new tab)

medicalxpress.com · 2026-09-26

Short answerEvidenceSource

Short answer

Several possible studies

No clear answer.

More than one paper fits the article's details, and none fits well enough to single out. Checking claims against the wrong study would be worse than not checking them at all.

Checked against the study summary. The full text wasn't available, so some details couldn't be settled either way.

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1

The story

Half of new parents have unwanted, intrusive thoughts of harming their infants. Research suggests most aren't dangerous.

medicalxpress.com · 2026-09-26

The story’s checkable claims.

Read the original story (opens in a new tab)
2

NewsLink checks it

Several studies could be the source of this story.

More than one paper fits the article's details, and none fits well enough to single out. Checking claims against the wrong study would be worse than not checking them at all.

Open claim evidence
3

Search result

Several studies could fit.

More than one paper fits the article's details, and none fits well enough to single out. Checking claims against the wrong study would be worse than not checking them at all.

Source paper

Source layer

The 13 papers the story cites

Source study separated from background citations.

The research anchor for the report.

Related research

Research nearby

The papers it could be

Nearby papers when the source is unclear.

and 26 more considered

Then inspect each claim

Evidence layer

Claim by claim

What the story asserts. With no source study, there is nothing to check these against.

Claim 1 of 5Not checkedAbout 99% of new birthing parents have unwanted, intrusive thoughts of accidental harm coming to their newborn infant, and about 50% experience unwanted, intrusive thoughts of intentionally harming their infant.View evidenceHide evidence

As stated99% accidental-harm thoughts; approximately 50% intentional-harm thoughts

Not checked

NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.

Claim 2 of 5Not checkedAcross the lab’s two studies, parents who reported unwanted, intrusive thoughts of harming their infant on purpose were no more likely to engage in physical aggression toward their infant than parents who did not report those thoughts.View evidenceHide evidence

As statedno more likely

Not checked

NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.

Claim 3 of 5Not checkedThe article says postpartum psychosis affects about 1 to 2 per 1,000 birthing parents, that thoughts of infanticide occur in roughly 8% of postpartum psychosis cases, and that infanticide is rare, at 1% to 4.5% of cases.View evidenceHide evidence

As stated1 to 2 per 1,000; roughly 8%; 1% to 4.5%

Not checked

NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.

Claim 4 of 5Not checkedIn postpartum psychosis, harm-related thoughts may be linked to delusions or command hallucinations, which is presented as different from unwanted intrusive thoughts that the parent does not want to act on.View evidenceHide evidence

Not checked

NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.

Claim 5 of 5Not checkedThe article says many health care professionals are poorly informed about unwanted intrusive thoughts and OCD, and that inappropriate responses such as contacting child protective services can increase distress and possibly increase risk of developing OCD.View evidenceHide evidence

Not checked

NewsLink could not identify one source study, so this claim was not compared against a paper.

Finally, the search trail

Method layer

No single source study was found.

NewsLink still surfaces nearby research so you can inspect the field instead of a single paper.

Nearby research

No exact source, but these papers are close.

Crossref, PubMed, Europe PMC · 24 candidate papers

And 19 more candidates considered.