Rates Of Postnatal Depression Among New Mothers Rose Sharply During Lockdown

By Emily Reynolds Having a new baby is never easy: it’s difficult to manage the stress of birth, sleepless nights, and juggling of childcare and domestic responsibilities, especially for first-time parents. Some also experience postnatal depression, which is estimated to affect 23% of women in Europe after the birth of a child (men also experience postnatal depression, though the numbers are not so clear). Add to new parenting the impact of lockdown, and that figure could rise sharply, a new study published in Frontiers in Psychology suggests. Working with women with babies aged six months or younger in the UK during the first COVID-19 lockdown, UCL’s Sarah Myers and Emily H. Emmott found that almost half met the threshold for postnatal depression — double the average European rates. Participants were 162 London-based women aged between 19 and 47 years old; half were first-time mothers, while the other half had up to three other children. Women first filled in a survey which measured symptoms of postnatal depression, then shared their own personal social networks, listing up to 25 people and explaining who they were and what the relationship was. After sharing this information, participants also reported who in this network they had seen in person and who they had chatted with on the phone, via video call, or by text or WhatsApp over the last few weeks. Contacts included family, old friends, colleagues and so-called “mummy friends” — non-f...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Babies Coronavirus Mental health Source Type: blogs