Many women appear to experience some level of the blues or depression after pregnancy. How many women experience these feelings? Is this a cultural phenomenon? Why might women experience such feelings?
What will be an ideal response?
According to the textbook, up to 70 percent of new mothers experience feelings that could be described as the "blues," or in some cases, depression. These feelings do not seem to be a cultural phenomenon as much as a more natural side effect to all of the changes that accompany birth. The birth process can be a very emotionally charged event. This is true whether the child was a wanted child or not. Mothers who deliver premature babies, for example, report feelings of guilt. Along with this is the psychological impact of thinking about the responsibility of raising a child. Most experts suspect that a combination of psychological thoughts and physical changes (such as the drop in estrogen levels) following pregnancy explain why these feelings are so common. Only a smaller number (one in five to ten) of women experience the more severe state of postpartum depression and even fewer (one in five hundred to one thousand) experience postpartum mood episodes accompanied by psychotic features.
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