Women's post-natal depression linked to abuse

[MacBeth]

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Forty percent of women who suffer depression after childbirth are abused either physically or emotionally by their partners, researchers in Australia said on Wednesday, calling on health workers to be more alert to such cases.

"That is a very important message to get out to health professionals," said Hannah Woolhouse at Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Victoria, Australia.

"If they are working with women with post-natal depression, they should consider the possibility that partner violence may be contributing to that."

Possible solutions included offering treatment to the abusive partner, counseling for such couples, or even shelter for abused women, she said in a telephone interview.

In their study of 1,305 first-time mothers, Woolhouse and colleagues found that 210, or 16 percent, reported depression in the 12 months following delivery.

" Around 40 percent of women reporting depressive symptoms also reported intimate partner violence," the researchers wrote in the paper published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

After taking into account other possible reasons such as age and unemployment, the risk of experiencing post-natal depression was three times higher for women who suffered emotional abuse compared with women who did not suffer any abuse, they said.

The risk was four times higher for those who experienced physical abuse.

"Emotional abuse is a lot more common than physical abuse ... and it is just as damaging," said Woolhouse.

The study also found that most women first reported depression more than six months after delivery.

"In Australia and the UK, screening for depression takes place in the first few months after delivery so they are likely to miss maybe over half of the cases of depression," Woolhouse said. "We would be recommending that professionals regularly enquire about women's mental and emotional wellbeing."



news.yahoo.com/womens-post-natal-depression-linked-partners-abuse-study-091416712.html

[joethree56]

"Emotional abuse is a lot more common than physical abuse ... and it is just as damaging," said Woolhouse.
OK but that gives no help to the (average bewildered male who wakes up to discocver that as a result of enjoyable Rumpy Pumpy we are no more than the shed wings of foolish butterflies of our ambitions. Can YOU the on't'Other side, live with this?

[MacBeth]

Not sure I am understanding what you mean, joe...

[joethree56]

Post natal depression is almost always seen as a condition affecting women yet the fact is it also affects fathers too and the attempt to link abuse and post natal depression strikes me as being far too simplistic a connection to make especially as 'emotional abuse' is in itself hardly capable of being accurately quantified. I have known men utterly bewildered by sudden awareness of the enormity of the task now facing them who are suddenly faced with hostility from the women they love who suddenly seems to have in her heart and arms something she resents sharing with her partner. The whole thing is an emotional roller coaster ride for both parents and I think recognition of this and the complexity of the situation is not helped by a rather sensational misuse of collected data.

[MacBeth]

It seems to me that the real tie is depression - and in too many families that goes hand in hand with abuse of one type or another. I see no reason why the logic does not also hold for men. Those more prone to depression are more likely to suffer when put under great stress - and a new child is certainly wonderful, but also stressful.
In a recent Canadian study,18% of women reported they experiences emotional abuse in their home (but not physical abuse). I am sure there are many men who experience the same thing. And these seem to show they are a real factor in post partum depression. By no means the only one, but one siginficant enough to note.