Postpartum Depression Overwhelms New Moms

Postpartum depression interferes with a new mother’s ability to care for her baby. Despite the joy that accompanies their child’s birth, 10% to 15% of new moms feel overwhelmed by the stress and responsibility of caring for their child. They may experience negative emotions and anxiety, have trouble sleeping or lose their appetite. Depression can result with negative repercussions for the mother and her newborn.

Postpartum depression affects the entire family. Poor understanding of the condition by the woman’s spouse and family members can add to the stress, straining the marital relationship and in some instances leading to divorce. A $423,500 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health will fund a new study into the causes and a potential new treatment for postpartum depression by scientists at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction, according to information posted on the Science Blog.

Working with researchers at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, Kinsey scientists hope their research will lead to better understanding of postpartum depression and possibly development of a preventive treatment for new mothers. The study will compare three groups: new mothers with postpartum depression, new mothers with no depression, and women who have never given birth. MRI technology will be used to study brain activity in the prefrontal-limbic system that scientists believe controls maternal behavior. New mothers show heightened activity in this area of the brain when responding to their infants. Depressed women who have not recently given birth also show greater brain activity in the prefrontal limbic system.

Researchers wonder if stress might be a trigger for postpartum depression. After giving birth, new mothers appear to be less sensitive to stress from the outside world. Concentration on their newborn seems to make them less responsive to negative pressures. The hormone oxytocin, which occurs at high levels in new moms, may play a role in this ability to screen out stress. It is stress that appears to trigger prefrontal-limbic brain activity in depressed women who have not recently given birth. While researchers expect to find a brain link between maternal behavior and depression, they don’t know whether the link will include postpartum depression.