Postpartum Difficulties Not Limited to Depression, Research Finds

Amy Taylor August 20, 2014

Women in their perinatal period are not only vulnerable to depression, but to several other lesser-known mental health risks too. These include the added pressure of becoming a “super” mom or dad, according to new research.

“Anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, psychosis, and bipolar disorder are all shaped by circumstances that surround having a baby.” said Carrie Wendel-Hummell, a doctoral candidate in sociology.

For the study, Wendel-Hummell conducted in-depth interviews with 17 new fathers and 30 new mothers primarily from Kansas and Missouri. The participants represented a range of low-income to middle-class parents. There was no requirement that subjects have a perinatal mental health condition, but all participants happened to have prolonged symptoms of at least one.

According to Wendel-Hummell, the goal of the study was to highlight the biological and sociological problems that new parents face. Medical researchers for years had attributed postpartum depression in new mothers to hormonal changes, despite evidence to the contrary.

“It has been framed so much as being a hormonal disorder, but the evidence there is actually very limited,” she said. “Childbirth itself is a life change and a life stressor, so actually there’s far more evidence that those risk factors are the cause, more so than hormones.”

Stressed parents in the study generally reported worries about social problems, including cultural expectations of parenting, relationship stress, family-work balance issues, and struggles with poverty.

At the root of their perinatal mental health issues, low-income parents reported on-going struggles of tending to their baby’s basic needs in the face of low wages and job insecurity, as well as finding affordable quality childcare, reliable transportation, and safe housing.

“Many of these parents were unable to afford mental health treatment. Frequently, pregnancy-based Medicaid is cut off after a post-birth appointment, which prevents coverage of treatment of postpartum depression or other post-pregnancy mental health disorders,” Wendel-Hummell said.

“They aren’t getting the support they need,” she said.

Wendel-Hummell added that middle-class women often try to do everything to balance work and home life, and fathers are increasingly attempting to do the same. “This pressure can exacerbate mental health conditions. If everything is not perfect, they feel like failures — and mothers tend to internalize that guilt.”

She notes a need for more awareness of these perinatal mental health conditions and, in addition, to find ways to screen for them.