Episode Transcript
Dr. Jones: Is depression catching? What happens to the children of mothers who are depressed? This is Dr. Kirtly Jones from the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ of Utah Health Care and we're talking about why mother's moods matter today on The Scope.
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Dr. Jones: There is a lot of news and research on maternal depression both before birth and after birth. There is also a lot of controversy about anti-depressants in pregnancy and breast feeding, and there are a lot of studies on mice and monkeys about the importance of maternal behavior in a newborn's brain development. What do we think we know now and how can we use it as clinicians, mothers, and families to help our mothers and children? Why mother's moods matter. We know that children whose mothers are stressed, depressed and anxious when they are pregnant are more likely to be stressed, depressed and anxious and cope less well with stress.
Data from children of mothers who survived Nazi concentration camps show that the children are more likely to have difficulty coping with stress. Children whose mothers were in New York City during the 9/11 disaster were more likely to overreact to stressful situations as newborns than babies that were in-utero outside of New York at the same time. We know that depressed and anxious mothers have higher stress hormones in their blood and these stress hormones pass through the placenta. We have mouse models of stressed out pregnant mice who give birth to baby mice who have higher stress hormones in their blood compared to genetically identical mice who weren't stressed in pregnancy.
You don't really want to know how they stressed these mommy mice but suffice it to say even prolonged, loud noises that stressed out baby mice who didn't run mazes so well and expressed more stress with handling and more depression as grown up mice. So that's the mouse story. We know that children who were raised in environments where there was little hugging, kissing, soft words, and physical contact, like orphanages around the world, have much more difficulty with stress and depression. Recent studies shows that depressed moms don't stroke their babies as much and their children have more problems coping with stress.
And, of course, the very same thing is true for mouse babies who aren't licked by their mommies as newborns. The parts of the brain of rats and mice that regulate stress are significantly affected by stress in the uterus and by lack of infant calming behavior on the part of the mouse mom. The lifelong impact of what happens early in life was re-enforced by a series of studies on laboratory rats. The researchers noticed that some rat moms were always licking and grooming their babies. Some rat moms weren't so much. They found that rats that had been licked and cuddled as pups were far more self-competent, less timid, more curious, and resilient. They were also better at mazes and they lived longer.
The good news in mice and rats is you can stress out baby mice in utero but make their post-natal life good with good mommying and they do better. And there are studies in people that show that an engaged dad or grandmother can help a baby along the right path if the mom is sick or depressed.
Now the controversy. Should depressed moms take an anti-depressant when they're pregnant and nursing? With respect to one kind of anti-depressant, the SSRIs, the most commonly prescribed ones; there is concern about a very small increase in birth defect of the heart. There are also concerns about baby behavior but we have already noted that babies of depressed and stressed moms, human and mice, may behave differently anyway. So what should you do?
Number one, plan your pregnancy. If you suffer from bouts of depression see if you can get help before your pregnancy and during your pregnancy. Of course, you cannot plan not to have a horrible disaster like 9/11 when pregnancy happens but you can get help if you're stressed out. Talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of taking your anti-depressants during pregnancy and breast feeding. Learn about the importance of newborn care and the mental health of children. If you or someone in your family suffers from postpartum depression they should get help and somebody needs to cuddle and kiss and talk to that baby. It could be the dad or the grandmother or a regular caretaker. So go cuddle and coo those babies. This is Dr. Kirtly Jones and thank you for joining us on The Scope.
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