As the fertility rate in our society declines, the child is being increasingly perceived as a rare object and pregnancy as an event of unique emotional import. Abortion, regardless of its cause, is a critical life event that is pervaded with loss and constitutes a major stress factor potentially responsible for psychiatric disorders. The epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and outcomes of these disorders were investigated based on a retrospective study of all patients admitted to the Mental Health and Prevention Center of Monastir, Tunisia, between January 1, 1989, and June 30, 1997, for a mental disorder secondary to an abortion. Most patients were young, married, and toward the middle of the socioeconomic spectrum. Three-eighths of patients had not had any prior pregnancies, and in one half the abortion was spontaneous. Major depression was the main diagnosis in half the cases. Although the outcome was favorable in three-fourths of cases, the best treatment approach remains prevention based on appropriate prenatal care and on the provision of psychological support to women who undergo elective termination of pregnancy.