Written By: Debjani Arora | Published : August 24, 2018 9:11 PM IST
Depressed mothers may affect child's emotional well being © Shutterstock
We might not believe this but a mother's well-being has a greater impact on her child. Now, even scientists have proved it. In a new study, researchers followed 125 children from birth to 10 years. At 10 years, mothers and children's cortisol (CT) and secretory immunoglobulin (s-IgA)--markers of stress and the immune system--were measured, mother-child interaction was observed, mothers and children underwent psychiatric diagnoses, and children's externalizing and internalizing symptoms were reported.
Depressed mothers had higher CT and s-IgA levels and displayed more negative parenting, characterised by negative effect, intrusion, and criticism. Children of depressed mothers tended to exhibit certain psychiatric disorders, having higher s-IgA levels, and displayed greater social withdrawal.
Senior author Dr Ruth Feldman said, "Following mothers and children across the first decade of life, we found that exposure to maternal depression impairs the functioning of the child's immune system and stress response. Such disruptions to the child's stress and immune system, in turn, led to greater child psychopathology," to Deccan Chronicle.
He added, "We also found that the impairments to the child's stress response and immunity were shaped by similar effects of the depression on the mothers' stress and immune system and their consequent impact on reducing the quality of maternal care giving."
The result showed the complex effects of maternal depression on children's physiology, health, psychopathology and the need for early interventions that specifically target maternal stress and enhance parenting behaviour. This is why post partum depression in mothers needs attention.
Postpartum depression is different from baby blues. Postpartum blues (PPB) or baby blues are relatively a common phenomenon, occurring in 50 to 80 per cent of women. PPB usually starts after the third postpartum day, typically peak by fourth or fifth day and spontaneously remits within two weeks of delivery. However, postpartum depression lasts longer and affects a mother's and baby's well-being.
Despite being fairly common, there is very less awareness about postpartum depression which makes it go unrecognized and hence untreated. Unrecognized and untreated postpartum depression in a mother may negatively affect mother-infant or mother-child bonding. It may also affect the infant's well-being and development as well.
The full findings appeared in the journal- Depression, and Anxiety.
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