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A new paradigm for depression in new mothers: the central role of inflammation and how breastfeeding and anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health

BACKGROUND: Research in the field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) has revealed that depression is associated with inflammation manifested by increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines. DISCUSSION: The old paradigm described inflammation as simply one of many risk factors for depression. The new pa...

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Autor principal: Kendall-Tackett, Kathleen
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2007
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1855049/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17397549
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1746-4358-2-6
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author Kendall-Tackett, Kathleen
author_facet Kendall-Tackett, Kathleen
author_sort Kendall-Tackett, Kathleen
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Research in the field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) has revealed that depression is associated with inflammation manifested by increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines. DISCUSSION: The old paradigm described inflammation as simply one of many risk factors for depression. The new paradigm is based on more recent research that has indicated that physical and psychological stressors increase inflammation. These recent studies constitute an important shift in the depression paradigm: inflammation is not simply a risk factor; it is the risk factor that underlies all the others. Moreover, inflammation explains why psychosocial, behavioral and physical risk factors increase the risk of depression. This is true for depression in general and for postpartum depression in particular. Puerperal women are especially vulnerable to these effects because their levels of proinflammatory cytokines significantly increase during the last trimester of pregnancy – a time when they are also at high risk for depression. Moreover, common experiences of new motherhood, such as sleep disturbance, postpartum pain, and past or current psychological trauma, act as stressors that cause proinflammatory cytokine levels to rise. Breastfeeding has a protective effect on maternal mental health because it attenuates stress and modulates the inflammatory response. However, breastfeeding difficulties, such as nipple pain, can increase the risk of depression and must be addressed promptly. CONCLUSION: PNI research suggests two goals for the prevention and treatment of postpartum depression: reducing maternal stress and reducing inflammation. Breastfeeding and exercise reduce maternal stress and are protective of maternal mood. In addition, most current treatments for depression are anti-inflammatory. These include long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, cognitive therapy, St. John's wort, and conventional antidepressants.
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spelling pubmed-18550492007-04-24 A new paradigm for depression in new mothers: the central role of inflammation and how breastfeeding and anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health Kendall-Tackett, Kathleen Int Breastfeed J Review BACKGROUND: Research in the field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) has revealed that depression is associated with inflammation manifested by increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines. DISCUSSION: The old paradigm described inflammation as simply one of many risk factors for depression. The new paradigm is based on more recent research that has indicated that physical and psychological stressors increase inflammation. These recent studies constitute an important shift in the depression paradigm: inflammation is not simply a risk factor; it is the risk factor that underlies all the others. Moreover, inflammation explains why psychosocial, behavioral and physical risk factors increase the risk of depression. This is true for depression in general and for postpartum depression in particular. Puerperal women are especially vulnerable to these effects because their levels of proinflammatory cytokines significantly increase during the last trimester of pregnancy – a time when they are also at high risk for depression. Moreover, common experiences of new motherhood, such as sleep disturbance, postpartum pain, and past or current psychological trauma, act as stressors that cause proinflammatory cytokine levels to rise. Breastfeeding has a protective effect on maternal mental health because it attenuates stress and modulates the inflammatory response. However, breastfeeding difficulties, such as nipple pain, can increase the risk of depression and must be addressed promptly. CONCLUSION: PNI research suggests two goals for the prevention and treatment of postpartum depression: reducing maternal stress and reducing inflammation. Breastfeeding and exercise reduce maternal stress and are protective of maternal mood. In addition, most current treatments for depression are anti-inflammatory. These include long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, cognitive therapy, St. John's wort, and conventional antidepressants. BioMed Central 2007-03-30 /pmc/articles/PMC1855049/ /pubmed/17397549 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1746-4358-2-6 Text en Copyright © 2007 Kendall-Tackett; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review
Kendall-Tackett, Kathleen
A new paradigm for depression in new mothers: the central role of inflammation and how breastfeeding and anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health
title A new paradigm for depression in new mothers: the central role of inflammation and how breastfeeding and anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health
title_full A new paradigm for depression in new mothers: the central role of inflammation and how breastfeeding and anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health
title_fullStr A new paradigm for depression in new mothers: the central role of inflammation and how breastfeeding and anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health
title_full_unstemmed A new paradigm for depression in new mothers: the central role of inflammation and how breastfeeding and anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health
title_short A new paradigm for depression in new mothers: the central role of inflammation and how breastfeeding and anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health
title_sort new paradigm for depression in new mothers: the central role of inflammation and how breastfeeding and anti-inflammatory treatments protect maternal mental health
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1855049/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17397549
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1746-4358-2-6
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