Background There are few studies concerning the family planning needs of female chronic psychiatric patients.

We aimed to determine the contraceptive needs and sexually transmitted disease (STD) risk-behaviours offemale psychiatric out-patients.

Method Sixty-six female out-patients with major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and mood disorders, completed a semi-structured interview (response rate=63%) and were individually matched for age and ethnicity with 66 women who had never been treated for psychiatric illness.

They answered questions on child-rearing and on their methods ofcontraception in relation to their attitudes towards pregnancy, as well as on their risk for STDs.

Results Compared with controls, the female patients reported having had significantly more induced abortions and were significantly more likely to have given up their own children for others to raise.

Heterosexually active psychiatric patients were significantly more likely than controls to have had more than one male sexual partner, to have been pressured into unwanted sexual intercourse, and to report having had sexual intercourse with a suspected bisexual over the preceding year.

Conclusions These results underscore the priority for developing programmes that reduce female psychiatric patients'risk for unwanted pregnancies and STDs.