Depressed Parents A Child s Bad Behavior - 1631 Words

Reitz, Samantha AP Capstone Period 9 3-25-15 Depressed Parents Lead to Depressed Kids The finger is often pointed at the parents as an excuse for a child’s bad behavior, however this may be with good reason since parents have a huge affect on their child’s psychological development, leading to the way they act, good or bad. Raising a child to behave is not an easy task and this becomes considerably more difficult for parents suffering from some form of postpartum depression, parents who suffer from this are almost definitely going to negatively impact their child’s psychological growth in some way. According to the National Research Council, â€Å"Depression in parents has been consistently associated with a number of behavior problems and†¦show more content†¦Two weeks after the babies where born, they were scanned using an MRI to look at their brain and more specifically their amygdala. Researchers found abnormal wiring in the right amygdala of babies with more depressed parents. If depression during pregnancy does not mentally affect the baby, it can physically. When an expecting mother is depressed she is less likely to properly take care of herself which can lead to miscarriages, delivering before the due date, or giving birth to an underweight child. Diana Dell, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., who is both an ob-gyn and a psychiatrist says, I ve said to my patients, when the mother-to-be is anxious or depressed, you generate some noxious chemicals associated with that, and in terms of (fetus) development it is not good† (Dell). Dell focuses on the sleeping patterns of children whose mother was diagnosed as depressed during pregnancy. The study proved that after six months a child’s sleep cycle should have been established, but if their mother was depressed or anxious during the pregnancy he or she is less likely to have an established sleep cycle (Doheny). Approximately 13% of all pregnant women take some form o f depression during their pregnancy. In order to cope with this depression during pregnancy, many mothers to be take anti-depressants however, after birth these medications