November 27, 2018
by Patricia Tomasi
The search is ongoing into the multiple causes of prenatal and postpartum depression (PPD), the umbrella term for several maternal mental health illnesses that also include anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and psychosis. Now, a new Italian study adds to the ongoing research into the causes of PPD after its results show that new mothers are at an increased risk for anxiety following elective cesarean births.
[More]
November 22, 2018
by Elizabeth Pratt
Teens being treated in a psychiatric emergency department say watching Netflix series "13 Reasons Why" contributed to their risk of suicide. Mental health experts say more attention should be paid to the impact such shows have on vulnerable young people.
[More]
November 18, 2018
by Elizabeth Pratt
The American Academy of Paediatrics has issues new guidelines stating parents should not spank their children. Mental health experts have echoed the call, saying corporal punishment is ineffective and can be damaging to a child's mental health and development.
[More]
October 28, 2018
by Patricia Tomasi
Up to 20 per cent of women experience postpartum depression or other maternal mental illness following birth. Though they’ve existed in Europe for decades, the first Mother and Baby Unit in the United States opened in 2011 and none currently exist in Canada.
[More]
October is breast cancer awareness month. Most women (and some men) live in fear of receiving this diagnosis. Visit the office of a radiologist who specializes in breast cancer, and you will find a room full of women in various states of fear and denial.is d
[More]
October 2, 2018
by Patricia Tomasi
A new study published in the Journal of Depression and Anxiety (the official journal of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America) has found stress and immune biomarkers that link children and their mothers who suffer from postpartum depression. The current study, titled, Maternal depression alters stress and immune biomarkers in mother and child, is part of a 15-year longitudinal study that followed children of depressed mothers from birth to age ten.
[More]
August 28, 2018
by Patricia Tomasi
One of the front line treatments for pregnant and postpartum women suffering from depression and anxiety is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). But due to a lack of research on SSRIs in females, little is known about their effects across the maternal spectrum as well as on infants exposed to the drug through breast milk.
[More]
August 20, 2018
by Patricia Tomasi
Although this is a study with mice, researchers believe that it does have relevance to human pregnancy because placental endocrine dysfunction could contribute to a mood disorder and the researchers have already published that a gene in the same family is abnormally expressed in the placenta of women with depression in pregnancy.
[More]
August 14, 2018
by Patricia Tomasi
The advice is to sleep when the baby sleeps but how much of an impact does frequent interrupted sleep have on the mental health of new parents? And are there other factors besides caring for a newborn that could be causing poor sleep quality for pregnant and postpartum moms?
[More]
August 4, 2018
by Patricia Tomasi
The financial burden faced by many single mothers has been found to be the main reason single mothers are more likely to experience mental health problems than mothers with partners. A new study published in the Journal of Behavioural Brain Research shows that although the level of maternal care of single prairie vole mothers is on par with partnered mothers, the emotional health of single mothers is much more negatively affected than in female prairie voles in a dual parental arrangement.
[More]