Post-natal Depression
(Family Health - Great Medical Encyclopedia)
Post-Natal Depression. The periodafter a child´s birth is a period that increases the risk of the psychiatric condition of the woman. The Post-Natal Depression (also known as the postpartum blues) is a common emotional disorder which may be considered an expected reaction that occurs immediately after the post-natal period. It occursduring the first week after the child´s birth. It affects 50% to 80% of all women. The Post-Natal depression is described as the difficulty of establishing a safe bond between mother and son and thus influencing the future interpersonal relationships of the child. This disturbance may be caused by the conditions of the birth itself and by a variety of factors. These range from biological, psychological to social and family factors. The biological factors result from the great variations of the levels of the female sexual hormones (oestrogen and progesterone) circulating in the blood. The psychological factors are brought up by feelings of conflict by the mother with: herself, or withher baby, or her companion, or by the respective mother with her own mother.The social and family factors are related with an overburden of responsabilities and pressures felt by the woman.The symptoms of post-natal depression include crises of crying, tiredness, a depressive humor, irritability, anxiety, confusion, lapses of memory and in severe cases a chronical Depressive Syndromeor psychoses may develop. In the former a psychological and medical treatment is resorted to and the symptoms may persist throughout a year. In the latter the symptoms appear in the three months that follow after giving birth, needing psychological assistance and supervisionplus hospital admittance. An early diagnosis is important to help the mother deal with her conflicts which will lead to an adequate bonding between herself and her child. The treatement consists on the patient verbalizing her feelings and emotions and the importance of emphasizing the normality of their alterations.
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