Myth #2: Postpartum depression is bad for child development. It’s all about postpartum depression.
What this study showed: Prenatal depression can affect 4-year-old children’s development negatively. It’s not just postpartum depression that matters.
The study showed that 4-year-old children who were born to mothers who had depression that started in pregnancy and continued to when they went to school had double the chance of experiencing behavioural and emotional problems.
In fact, of all the possible risk factors studied in this research, maternal depression (pregnancy to child age 4) was the biggest risk factor for poor child development.
Myth #3: Women who struggle with depression during their pregnancy and after they have their babies are disadvantaged women with lots of other troubles.
What this study showed: The majority of women who struggled with depression from pregnancy to 4 years after they had their baby were university educated and had jobs. Over 96% were married or in a stable, common-law relationship. Perinatal depression isn’t picky.
A New Message
If you (or a pregnant friend or family member) is struggling with feeling like your emotional health is not quite right, talk to your prenatal doctor or nurse! There IS such a thing as prenatal depression and anxiety, and this study shows it is more common than we thought. Don’t wait until after you have your baby to raise your concerns!
Check yourself for positive mental health here.
You can read more about this study:
Giallo et al. (2015). The emotional-behavioural functioning of children exposed to maternal depressive symptoms across pregnancy and early childhood: A prospective Australian pregnancy cohort study. Eur Child Adolsc Psychiatry, 2015 Oct;24(10):1233-44.
Dr. Dawn Kingston, Canada’s leading expert on perinatal mental health and for over ten years has been at the forefront of research on how to prevent postpartum depression. Her team has developed the HOPE App which is designed to significantly reduce prenatal anxiety and depression and directly support expectant mothers. They are studying it in a massive implementation study, one of the most ambitious projects of this type ever!
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