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Lynne Murray
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Taylor and Francis, 2009, Volume 23 (3): 185–99.
Children with a parent who suffers from depression are at raised risk for the disorder themselves. Relatively little is known about the development of psychological vulnerability to depression through childhood, particularly during infancy and early childhood. This paper describes results from a longitudinal prospective study of the development of children, studied from birth to 16 years, of mothers who experienced postnatal depression; it highlights the roles of the developing mother–child relationship, and of physiological functioning and social relationships in the development of adolescent vulnerability.
Ross Bernard Wilkinson & Rhiannon Mulcahy
Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, Taylor and Francis, August 2010, Volume 28 (3): 252–65.
Postnatal depression (PND) is a debilitating condition that has demonstrated negative impacts on the mother, her infant, and her intimate and social relationships. Using an attachment theory perspective, this study examined the relationship of insecure working models of attachment to depression, marital quality, infant bonding, and social support in Australian samples of diagnosed depressed (n = 47) and comparison (n = 68) mothers. Clinically depressed mothers reported less security of attachment and more preoccupied and fearful attachment. Irrespective of diagnostic status, attachment styles characterised by a negative model of self were associated with higher depression and lower quality of relationship with baby and spouse and the perception of less social support. The role of dismissing attachment in the outcomes was less clear. The potential mutual influence of depression and attachment working models is discussed, and it is concluded that while insecure att