At the beginning of 2022, "mother", "childbirth" and "child" seem to have been hanging on the "hot search", and brushing the screen in the "circle of friends" shows that it is concerned by the whole people, the country attaches importance to it, and also shows its importance. On this important occasion of Women's Day, allow me to share with you a few pieces of knowledge on the subject.
01
Expectant moms and new moms
More likely to suffer from depression
Studies have found that women of childbearing age experience 2-3 times more likely to experience depression than men. The first 3 months of delivery, the third trimester of pregnancy, is a high incidence of depression in pregnant women. In the first postpartum year, symptoms of depression and anxiety may affect 15%-20% of women.
Depression is high in women of childbearing age and may be related to changes in estrogen levels in the body. Women with low but stable estrogen levels before and after menopause have no difference in the incidence of depression compared with men. The period of rapid change in estrogen levels, including puberty, menstruation, and perimenopause, is a high-risk period for depression and anxiety disorders in a woman's life.
The physiological state of pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy changes rapidly, and the psychological pressure is also increasing in the face of the upcoming newborn.
Are the symptoms of postpartum depression an absolute "characteristic" compared to depression in other populations? There are still differences of opinion in the academic community on this issue. Based on clinical observations, the author tends to think that the symptoms of postpartum depression have certain characteristics. For example, postpartum depressive symptoms are often very "fierce", the patient is depressed, aggrieved, crying, irritable and prominent, there may be a lot of negative thinking, such as sense of uselessness, hopelessness, self-esteem decline, and then suicidal thoughts can be generated.
The most specific and noteworthy aspects of postpartum depression are the loss of the ability to care for the baby effectively, excessive concern for the baby's health, or self-blame for the inability to cope. In the most severe cases, "mother-infant suicide" may also occur.
Promoting maternal physical and mental health requires the entire family to work together. Give them enough care and understanding, stable happiness and security, and help them smoothly pass through this special period.
02
Childhood trauma is significantly associated with depression
Childhood trauma refers to the negative experiences of stress that are important in a person's early life beyond the individual's ability to cope, such as sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, death of parents or separation of parents, etc., often referred to as childhood abuse, childhood adversity.
According to the World Health Organization, more than one-third of the world's population has experienced childhood trauma, and eliminating childhood trauma may reduce the incidence of mood disorders (such as depressive disorders and bipolar disorders) by 22.9%. Individuals with childhood trauma are 2.66 to 3.73 times more likely to develop depression in adulthood than those without childhood trauma. People with depression with childhood trauma have a 3 times higher risk of suicide than those without childhood trauma depression, and are 2 times more likely to have recurrent and persistent depressive episodes than those without childhood trauma depression.
In various childhood traumas, physical abuse such as beatings, physical neglect such as lack of clothing and food, and sexual abuse are usually easier to identify because they can be seen and touched. Emotional neglect and emotional abuse are relatively hidden and often not paid attention to and valued. But many psychologists believe that emotional neglect and abuse are at least just as bad compared to physical torture.
So, what exactly is emotional neglect? What is emotional abuse?
Emotional neglect refers to the parents ignoring the child's normal emotional needs. Such parents do not express emotions to their children and show that they are not interested in their children. Parents do not hug their children, do not gently touch their children, do not have affectionate titles, and no one gives comfort to their children. When a child feels that he is irrelevant to his parents, he may experience an indescribable anger and powerless despair that provides him with ample material conditions even if his parents have never beaten him.
Emotional abuse is the physical harm that a child's parents or caregivers cause significant psychological harm to a child through intentional verbal or symbolic abuse. "Emotional abuse" includes: frequently humiliating or criticizing the child; threatening, yelling at the child; using sarcasm to hurt the child; blaming, letting the child be a scapegoat; making the child do degrading behavior; not recognizing the child's own personal independence; forcing the child too tightly; exposing the child to painful events or situations, such as domestic violence or drug use; not allowing the child to make friends; declaring that the child will hurt or abandon the child; and confining the child (such as confining the child to a dark and narrow space such as a closet).
Promoting children's physical and mental health requires not only the elimination of physical abuse, physical neglect, and sexual abuse, but also the avoidance of emotional neglect and emotional abuse.
03
the trauma of parents,
especially the mother's childhood trauma,
It is "inherited"!
All mental illnesses are the result of a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Environmental factors refer to the various situations you encounter from childhood to adulthood, and trauma is one of the strong and negative ones.
The latest research shows that trauma not only affects the mood and behavior of individuals who have experienced trauma, but also affects the expression of genes through epigenetic means (such as changing methylation levels), and the epigenetic changes caused by this trauma are heritable. In particular, childhood trauma suffered by individuals as mothers has a greater impact on future generations.
A 2020 article published in the American Journal of Psychiatry found that if mothers experienced Holocaust trauma before becoming pregnant, their children were more likely to take psychiatric medications and showed more anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorders than children whose mothers had not experienced the Holocaust, with lower methylation levels of one of the trauma-related genes (FKBP5). Studies have shown that this low level of FKBP5 methylation is associated with a massacre of mothers; this correlation is particularly pronounced if the massacre occurred during the mother's childhood.
A girl, the kindness and gentleness that she has acquired since childhood, can be passed on. Children will eventually become parents when they grow up, improving genetic factors, starting with family and social care for the next generation. And individuals who already inevitably have certain negative genetic factors, do not forget that environmental factors also play an important role, do not give up on change and efforts.
In summary, it can be seen that the physical and mental state of women is related to the happiness of the small family and the future of everyone. In this time of warm spring, may the world be at peace and every woman can be treated gently.
bibliography
[1] Thombs, B. D. , Roseman, M. , & Arthurs, E. . (2010). Prenatal and postpartum depression in fathers and mothers. Jama, 304(9), 961; author reply 961-2.
Pan Jianping. Neglect of children cannot be ignored[J]. China General Practice,2007,10(1):6-8. DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1007-9572.2007.01.002.
[3] Bierer, L. M., Bader, H. N., Daskalakis, N. P., Lehrner, A., Proven al, N., Wiechmann, T., Klengel, T., Makotkine, I., Binder, E. B., & Yehuda, R. (2020). Intergenerational Effects of Maternal Holocaust Exposure on FKBP5 Methylation. The American journal of psychiatry, 177(8), 744–753.
[4] Joo, X. M. , Roman, S. D. , John, A. R. , & Brett, N. . (2019). Transgenerational inheritance: how impacts to the epigenetic and genetic information of parents affect offspring health. Human Reproduction Update(5), 5.
Note: The pictures in the text are from the Internet, and the invasion and deletion are apologetic.
Author: Jiang Sisi
Peking University Sixth Hospital
Edit the || He Yingying
Typography || White feathers
Audit || Manin