Postpartum Depression - Causes

Causes

The etiology of PPD is not well understood. It is sometimes assumed that postpartum depression is caused by a lack of vitamins. Other studies tend to show that more likely causes are the significant changes in a woman's hormones during pregnancy. Yet other studies have suggested there is no known correlation between hormones and postpartum mood disorders, and hormonal treatment has not helped postpartum depression victims. Further, fathers, who are not undergoing profound hormonal changes, suffer PPD at relatively high rates. Finally, all mothers experience these hormonal changes, yet only about 10–15% suffer PPD. This does not mean, however, that hormones do not play a role in PPD. For example, in women with a history of PPD, a hormone treatment simulating pregnancy and parturition caused these women to suffer mood symptoms. The same treatment, however, did not cause mood symptoms in women with no history of PPD. One interpretation of these results is that there is a subgroup of women who are vulnerable to hormone changes during pregnancy. Another interpretation is that simulating a pregnancy will trigger PPD in women who are vulnerable to PPD for any of the reasons indicated by Beck's meta-analysis as summarized above.

Profound lifestyle changes brought about by caring for the infant are also frequently claimed to cause PPD, but, again, there is little evidence for this hypothesis. Mothers who have had several previous children without suffering PPD can nonetheless suffer it with their latest child. Plus, most women experience profound lifestyle changes with their first pregnancy, yet most do not suffer PPD.

In 2009, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, reported that the levels of placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) during the 25th week of pregnancy may help predict a woman's chances of developing postpartum depression.