Helping depressed mothers

U of A researchers help new mothers suffering from postpartum depression recognize and respond to their babies various needs

Wednesday, 28 March 2007

Unlike other illnesses, postpartum depression affects not only the mother suffering from depression but also her ability to take care of, and therefore the health of, her baby.

With that in mind, a team of researchers at the University of Alberta, led by psychologist Dr Vivienne Jung, undertook a pilot study on postpartum depression and its effects on the baby.

The intervention, a program called Keys to Caregiving, teaches depressed mothers to understand and respond to cues given by the baby.

“Obviously the baby can’t talk,” Dr Robert Short, a member of the research team, said. “But they have facial expressions and body movements and hand movements and so on. The program essentially teaches the mother how to respond appropriately even though they’re depressed.”

He explained that while there are ways of treating postpartum depression in the mother, they’re neither straightforward nor guaranteed to work.

“There is medication, sure, but there are problems with medications, particularly if the mother is breastfeeding, because of the effects of the medication on the baby itself. There are other approaches that deal in a therapeutic way with the mother’s depression, mainly talk-therapists and support groups with similar[ly] situated women,” Short stated.

Few of these approaches, he continued, directly improve the situation of the baby. Therefore, the focus of the research was to turn away from treating the mother and to focus on how to improve the mother’s interactions with the baby.

“If we can get the mother to, even though she is depressed, go through the repertoire of skills and interactions that are taught in this type of intervention then at least the baby’s development is not being hampered and affected by her depression,” Short explained.

He acknowledged that the health of a new mother is very important and that any depression on her part is very troubling. However, he added that it’s also important that the development and health of the baby isn’t neglected.

The results of the pilot study of eleven mother-baby pairs are promising, Short enthused. By associating different facial cues with different emotions, levels of particular emotions were measured. Using this technique, the babies were shown as having a level of interest of 39 per cent in the mother before the intervention. After going through the Keys to Caregiving Program, that figure was up to 67 per cent. The level of joy went from almost four per cent before, to 13 per cent afterwards.

The heightened level of interest, Short explained, is very significant.
“If the baby is indifferent and not participating then it is not going to be developing in the appropriate way,” he said.

In addition to improvements in the baby’s mental and emotional health, Short suggested that the baby’s physical health also might benefit.

“We’re talking now about body weight changes and so on,” he said. An improved psychological environment has a noted impact on a baby’s physical development.

Short said the implications of this research are vast. Like many forms of depression, postpartum depression is all too common and, paradoxically, very rarely acknowledged or discussed.

According to several medical websites, it’s estimated that 20 per cent—one of every five women giving birth—will suffer from some severity of postpartum afterwards. Seventy per cent of pregnant women will suffer from the less severe “baby blues.”

Furthermore, the Keys to Caregiving program could be beneficial to women who aren’t suffering from postpartum depression, Short said.

“Particularly with young women,” he said. “People who are having babies in their teens that really don’t know how to deal with a newborn, I think learning these types of skills are very advantageous.”

-->