In the days shortly after giving birth, most mothers experience a period
of increased calmness and decreased stress responses, but around 20% of
mothers experience anxiety. Some women may become depressed, and around
one in a thousand can develop psychosis. The latest evidence indicates
that these distressing responses to motherhood are still poorly
understood, but that animal research could provide valuable clues to
their causes.
Writing in the British
Journal of Pharmacology, Dr David Slattery and Dr Clara Perani
highlight that anxiety, depression and psychosis during this
‘postpartum’ period of life not only affect the well-being of the mother
but also place at risk the long-term health of the infant. Infant care
and bonding can also be altered, which in turn may lead to long-term
behavioural and emotional problems for the child.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, little is known about the
causes of postpartum disorders. Slattery and Perani believe animal
research could play a greater role. “All female mammals give birth,
produce milk and adapt their behaviour in order to care for the
offspring. Research in rodents shows that they too experience a host of
important behavioural and physiological alterations during this time.
For example, just like most breastfeeding mothers, rodents are generally
calmer and show a smaller increase in the stress hormone cortisol when
subjected to stress,” says Slattery.
Factors like smoking, drinking alcohol throughout pregnancy and marital
status, all influence the likelihood of a mother developing these sorts
of postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, and having a previous history
of a mood condition places a woman at greater risk. “While we know this
from observing women, what we need now is a greater understanding of the
underlying causes and mechanisms so that we can begin to identify
mothers who are at risk and start to provide them with preventative
advice and effective therapies,” says Slattery.
While it is very difficult to impose experimental restraints on women,
some of the factors such as diet or repeated exposure to stress during
pregnancy can be explored in research involving animals.
Identification of such causes could lead to better treatment and faster
diagnosis of the disorders, which would help both the mother and her
child. “Long-term, we hope that increased study, involving both animals
and humans, will improve our understanding of postpartum psychiatric
disorders, and lead to improved, earlier diagnosis and to novel
treatment approaches for this particular time period of a woman’s life,”
says Slattery, who has previously published a number of studies
assessing how pregnancy stress effects the normal adaptations that occur
immediately before or after giving birth.
Evelyn Martinez, 201-748-6358
Senior Publicist
sciencenewsroom@wiley.com