Running Head : EXAMINATION OF POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY An Examination of Postpartum Depression and its ’ Effects on Children

The objective of this paper was to examine the prominent key predictors of postpartum depression (PPD), how mother’s PPD may affect children, and what treatments are most effective in treating PPD. A literature review was used to find relevant information on the topics as well as a systematic review was conducted to review literature related to PPD and child outcomes. In the systematic review, a literature search was conducted and 481 articles from PubMed and 48 articles from PsycINFO were screened using predetermined search terms and inclusion criteria, resulting in only three articles meeting criteria. From the first section, key predictors were determined as prenatal depression, prenatal anxiety, and prenatal stress. The second section results indicated that children may be at risk for having behavioral problems and underdeveloped language. The third section found that antidepressants, interpersonal psychotherapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy are effective treatments to treat PPD. Future directions for this study is to examine social economical status in women for key predictors, examine the father’s PPD on child outcomes, and continue to push screenings on mothers who have PPD. EXAMINATION OF POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION An Examination of Postpartum Depression and its’ Effect on Children Major depression can be defined as a disorder that affects one's mood, neurovegetative functions such as appetite and sleep disturbances; cognition such as inappropriate guilt and feelings of worthlessness; and psychomotor activities such as agitation (Fava & Kendler, 2000). According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA; 2013), postpartum depression (PPD) is defined as depression that occurs during or after the birth of a child. In order to be diagnosed with PPD, postpartum onset needs to begin within four weeks after delivery and signs of depression need to occur (APA, 2013; Wisner, Parry, & Piontek, 2002). Additionally, symptoms of PPD include extreme sadness, difficulty concentrating, and changes in sleep, appetite, and energy (Hall, Kotch, Browne, & Rayens, 1996). Other symptoms may include loss of control, compulsive thoughts, feeling of inadequacy, and an inability to cope (Harowitz & Goodman, 2004). Maternal blues (MB) are often confused with PPD. MB is characterized by transient mood swings to a low mood and crying that usually occurs within the first few days after delivery, whereas, PPD occurs a few weeks after delivery and lasts for a few weeks or months (Takahashi & Tamakoshi, 2014). Also, to note, another difference between MB and PPD is that the prevalence rate of developing these disorders is higher for MB (32.7%) compared to PPD (15%; Faisal-Cury, Menezes, Tedesco, Kahalle, & Zugaib. 2008). PPD is found to have negative effects on the health of the mother, the infant, and the entire family (Stewart, Gagnon, Saucier, Wahoush, & Dougherty, 2008). There is an assumption that PPD is only found in women due to an increased risk for depression during and after pregnancy, but men can be found to have PPD symptoms (Goodman, 2004; Parekh, Jarlenski, & Kelly, 2017). Therefore, men can also experience negative health outcomes, reduced social EXAMINATION OF POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION functioning, physical health problems, reduced family support, and strained marital relationships (Roberts, Bushnell, Collings, & Purdie, 2006). It can be quite concerning that 15% of women are diagnosed and live with PPD (Pearlstein, Howard, Salisbury, & Zlotnick, 2009). In addition, men whose partners were experiencing PPD had an incidence of paternal depression of 24–50% (Goodman, 2004). Research has also shown that children whose mothers struggle with PPD are four times more likely to have behavioral problems as well as seven times more likely to have depression by the age of 18 (Netsi et al., 2017). Existing research explores the causes or predictors of PPD and indicates that possible predictors of PPD are lower physical health, higher levels of anxiety, longer cycles of depression, distant relationships with partner, difficulties in social relationships, likelihood to develop addictive behaviors, and an increased risk of suicide (Slomian, Honvo, Emonts, Reginster, & Bruyère, 2019). The purpose of this review is to examine the key predictors of PPD, how mother’s PPD may affect children, and what treatments are most effective in treating PPD.