Effects of Postpartum Depression on Child Bearing and Rearing Family

1351 Words3 Pages

Effects of Postpartum Depression on Child Bearing and Rearing Family Postpartum depression (PPD) is a major event occurring in eight to fifteen percent of the woman population after delivering their child (Glavin, Smith, Sørum & Ellefsen, 2010). The symptoms and causes of PPD are similar to depression symptoms in other periods of life (Glavin et al., 2010). These symptoms may include feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, loss of interest in daily activities, sleep changes, anger or irritability, loss of energy, self-loathing, reckless behavior and concentration problems. These symptoms may lead to other factors that are detrimental to the child bearing and rearing family. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the effects of PPD in terms of its significance to the health of the family. The scope of this paper will discuss the relation of PPD on child development, children-parent attachment and marital dysfunction. Then, two determinants of health and their relevance to the health issue and, strategies that could be used to promote the health of the family will be discussed. Many factors concerning PPD correlates to child development, two interconnected factors mainly concerning PPD and child development are caregiving and attachment. First, PPD is a health concern for child rearing family because it affects child development adversely. Depressive symptoms such as sadness, pessimism and irritability are the primary negative factors affecting child care. As stated by Stein, Malmberg, Sylva, Barnes & Leach (2008), PPD’s adverse effects to child development are primarily due to poor care giving or negligence. In fact, it is clinically proven that, “children of depressed mothers have increased levels of internalizing and ... ... middle of paper ... ...or women with postpartum depression. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 66(6), 1317-1327. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2010.05263.x Barnes, D. (2006). POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION: ITS IMPACT ON COUPLES AND MARITAL SATISFACTION. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 25(3), 25-42. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Gao, W., Paterson, J., Abbott, M., Carter, S., & Iusitini, L. (2007). Maternal mental health and child behaviour problems at 2 years: findings from the Pacific Islands Families Study. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 41(11), 885-895. doi:10.1080/00048670701634929 Stein, A. A., Malmberg, L. E., Sylva, K. K., Barnes, J. J., & Leach, P. P. (2008). The influence of maternal depression, caregiving, and socioeconomic status in the post-natal year on children's language development. Child: Care, Health & Development, 34(5), 603-612. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2214.2008.00837.x

Open Document