Postpartum Depression Literature Review

Scientific Writing review,

Helen Gabbrielli

Postpartum depression and Perinatal depression in underdeveloped, developing and low income countries.

Links between socioeconomic difficulty and depression.

Abstract

This review aspires to interest it’s readers on the importance of social, environmental and economical factors in the mind of a mother to be in underdeveloped, developing and low income countries. The background of this review is the ever rising number of women suffering from perinatal and postpartum depression, concentrating on in low income and developing countries. The question I hope to answer is why it is happening and how are women and children being treated? The aim is to understand what factors increase the possibility

It is quite common to associate positive implications to experiences such as pregnancy, delivery and maternity. Everything is new, a new life on the way and personal maturation and completion is due; surely these characteristics are present in most pregnancies but not in all.

Carrying a child does not just mean a mother must prepare herself for a new life; it also means she must get ready for the nine months of pregnancy in which thousands of doubts can appear. Women often find themselves questioning their capacity to be a mother, the precautions one must to take and eventual illnesses the child could have; wondering how they may have to modify their life for their newborn.

It’s obvious that the mom to be has the burden of carrying out a complex psychological task for which she needs support of loved ones and a safe and stress-free environment to carry out her pregnancy in. Postpartum depression is a pretty common disorder in the western and developed world and even more common in developing countries; it includes symptoms such as inconsolable crying, mood changes, irritation, loss of interest, insomnia and

Accordingly, treating depression in developing countries has been shown to boost economic productivity, particularly among the most disadvantaged. A study in Uganda, for example, found that interpersonal group therapy for women with depression improved their ability to undertake economic activities, while treatment in India increased the number of productive workdays for patients. Risk factors mentioned earlier in the article regarding in particular women in developing countries, such as poverty, health issues and lack of empowerment were found to be important maintaining factors of depression and moderators, which are variables that change, increase or decrease, the otherwise established effects of therapies like Cognitive Behavioral therapy. Locally developed interventions succeeded in tackling those problems, the treatment of the mental problems was found to help with the issue of poverty and the child-mother relationship. Culturally adapted cognitive behavioral therapy with in addition support given to the depressed women by family and particularly the husband has been found to be very helpful as well as targeted support with the result of implementing economical empowerment in women, debt and issues in child