Women who are depressed while pregnant are known to be more likely to have infants who show increased irritability, erratic sleep patterns and diminished responsiveness. A mother's prenatal depression may also put her child at risk for problem behavior during the early elementary school years.
A mother's psychological well-being is important for her child's well-being, even before birth and through childhood. In our study, mothers' depressive symptoms during pregnancy were related to children's behavioral problems 8 to 9 years later.
Mothers who reported prenatal depression had a threefold increased risk of having children with a high level of delinquency or aggressiveness.
They were also 8.5 times more likely to have children with a high level of total problems, including delinquency, aggressiveness and symptoms of depression or anxiety.
Mothers who reported current depression were also more likely to have low-functioning or problematic children than their nondepressed peers -- a finding consistent with previous research.
Factors such as depression during the postnatal period, single parenthood, maternal age of 35 years or older, and having a male child were linked to a mother's low rating of her child's social competence, which included activity participation, peer and family relationship functioning and school achievement.
And a mother's report of current depression seemed to predict whether her child's behavior, working, learning and happiness were rated low by the child's teacher.
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry December 2001;40:1367-1374
This study provides us with really useful information and helps place an important perspective on why we get sick. It is my observation that the vast majority of people I see for medical illnesses have at the root of their problem some previous stress.
Most of the time the roots of the trauma go back to childhood. As this study points out, a mother's depression and stress will alter the child's future health, and that can go all the way back to the time when the child was in their mother's uterus.
Although the study does not address this, I believe that there is also a link to the father's stresses and these frequently are transferred to the child.
This can lead to a vicious cycle of repetition that can go on for many generations. Clearly there are some powerful take-home messages. Depression, and stress, should ideally be treated prior to a woman becoming pregnant.
Fortunately in the last few years we have acquired some excellent tools to address these issues in the field of energy psychology. EFT is my current favorite but there are clearly many other approaches to address these problems at their core level.
My EFT workshop this week went far better than expected. If you weren't one of the fortunate 50 that were able to attend I will have ten hours of videos of the workshops and ready for shipment in the next ten days.
The videos captured some of the best EFT sessions I have ever done.
Most traditional medical approaches are hopelessly ineffective for these problems as they rely on medications to treat the symptoms. Traditional psychotherapy that is typically cognitively based is a step in the right direction.
Psychotherapy is clearly an important element of the total healing process, but it is nearly always incapable of facilitating the repair of the very real physiological damage that results from previous stresses.
It would seem that aggressive use of EFT types of therapies prior to conception would be one of the best investments that a couple could make for the future long term health of their child.
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