Risk Factors for Postpartum Depression:
Postpartum depression can develop after the birth of any child, not just the first. The risk increases if the mother had:
- Mental illness before pregnancy
- Mental illness, including postpartum depression, in the family.
- Postpartum mental disorder after an earlier pregnancy
- Conflict in the marriage, loss of employment, or poor social support from friends and family.
- Pregnancy loss such as miscarriage or stillbirth.(The risk of major depression after miscarriage is high for women who are childless. It occurs even in women who were unhappy about being pregnant.The risk for developing depression after miscarriage is highest within the first few months after the loss.)
- Abused alcohol, taken illegal substances, or smoked.(These also cause serious medical health risks for the baby)
- Did not plan the pregnancy, or had mixed feelings about the pregnancy
- Bipolar disorder (for example, manic depression), or an anxiety disorder before your pregnancy, or with a previous pregnancy
- A stressful event during the pregnancy or delivery, including personal illness, death or illness of a loved one, a difficult or emergency delivery, premature delivery, or illness or birth defect in the baby.
- A poor relationship with your significant other or are single
- Financial problems (low income, inadequate housing)
Out of all of these risk factors Family History of Depression plays the most effective role in determining postpartum depression in a pregnant woman.Here is one such story of a mother, Jaime H. whose father’s recent death affected her in the most astounding manner : http://www.postpartumprogress.com/on-family-history-and-postpartum-depression
Lots of experiments have been conducted to study the various risk factors for postpartum depression,one such experiment is given below:
- In this experiment patient's characteristics like breastfeeding status, tobacco use, marital status, history of depression, and method of delivery
and their role in postpartum depression were analyzed:
2.Another study was carried out to determine the prevalence and identify the risk factors of postpartum depression among Arab women in Qatar( a developing country):
