Postpartum Depression Research Paper

Postpartum depression is a serious disease that affects as many as 60 percent of new mothers. The new mother’s may not feel love for their newborn and may have no energy to take care of the child. They may also suffer from insomnia, excessive eating or anorexia, hyperventilation. People have different methods for coping with life and its stressful events. The level of security in a person is directly proportional to the method of coping with a difficult situation. One of these stressful events is the arrival of a newborn in a family. For the mother, giving birth follows a completely new set of challenging demands. The degree of stress depends upon the past experience of the parents and on their perception of parenting. For some parents a
This type of depression occurs within the first 12
Weeks after childbirth. Depression is more prevalent between the ages of 18 and 44. This range of years is also the range for childbearing years. In other countries the prevalence rates for postpartum depression are 21% for Arab women, 11% for Indian women, 11.2% for Chinese women, 22.4% for Chilean women, and 12% for Brazilian women. The consequences of postpartum depression are not only present in mothers, but also in their families, and their infants. Therefore, prompt and efficient help is necessary from medical personnel in order to help and support the families affected by postpartum depression. During the postnatal period certain psychiatric disorders can occur. These disorders may be divided into maternity blues, postpartum depression, and postpartum psychosis. Unlike baby blues and postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis affects between one and two women per thousand. Compared to postpartum psychosis, postpartum depression affects 10 to 13% of new mothers, followed by baby blues or maternity blues which affects 50 to 70% of postpartum
Some causes of postpartum depression are. Hormonal changes. Right after childbirth, women experience a big drop in estrogen and progesterone hormone levels. Thyroid levels can also drop, which leads to fatigue and depression. These hormonal rapid hormonal changes- along with the changes in the blood pressure, immune system functioning, and metabolism that new mothers experience- may trigger postpartum