Postpartum Depression

Imagine you having given birth to a baby boy just few days before. You have all the reasons in the world to be elated. What could be a dampener in your joyous celebrations is Postpartum depression or post natal depression. Statistics reveal that post partum depression is prevalent in about 25% of the cases of child birth.

What are the causes of postpartum depression?

Postpartum depression is a type of depression that does not have any causes attributed to it, with all the research forthcoming as yet. Though many factors have been linked to the occurrence of postpartum depression based on cases treated by doctors.

  • Prenatal depression - Amongst all the factors, prenatal depression is said to be the highest contributor to postpartum depression. As per statistics, 45% of the times a woman suffers from postpartum depression also suffer from prenatal depression. Other stress related factors are Low self esteem and Childcare stress. Both of these are equally significant in causing postpartum depression.

  • Low Social Support - When a mother gives birth to a newborn baby, she expects to be accepted by the society as a mother of a child. When the society alienates the mother, she is quite natural to feel isolated. This lack of social support can also cause postpartum depression.

  • Poor Marital Relationship - If giving birth to a child is a painful activity for the mother, it is for the father too. Though, the father would undergo emotional pangs during the birth of the child, it is equally important that the father and the mother share a good relationship which will allow a good upbringing of the child. Please note that strains in the mother-father relationship can subject the mother and the father to bouts of postpartum depression. Especially the mother is susceptible to a postpartum depression symptom.

  • Erratic behavior of the newborn baby - It is quite natural for the mother to expect the new born baby is at the best of its behavior. That said, the behavior of a new born baby cannot be controlled till the age of 2. Sometimes, the erratic behavior which cannot be controlled by the mother causes postpartum depression.

The factors listed above are said to correlate with postpartum depression. For example, mother who suffer from prenatal depression have a high probability of suffering from postnatal depression. This factor is not conclusive for people to rely on to believe that mothers suffering from prenatal depression have to suffer from postpartum depression.

Postpartum depression is an area of research for physicians and doctors to arrive at numbers and statistics which could validate the factors associated with postpartum depression.