By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
(Health day)
THURSDAY, Sept. 1, 2022 (HealthDay News) — While half of mothers of children with autism suffer from symptoms of depression, a new study has found that they do not increase the risk of conduct problems for their children.
It was a surprising and encouraging finding, said the study’s first author, Danielle Roubinov, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.
“We did not see that maternity depressive symptoms predicted more child behavior problems over time, and that was very interesting for us, especially in families with a child with autism,” Roubinov said.
“And the reason for this is that mothers (all fathers, but mothers in particular) of children with autism can carry a lot of guilt and stigma around their child’s diagnosis,” he explained. do I do to cause this? What is my role in this? And we really wanted to highlight here that, yes, maternal and child mental health are interrelated, but even in these high-stress family contexts, having a mother who struggles with depression, that doesn’t necessarily contribute to increased behavior. problems over time.
Still, rates of maternal depression were high: While 50% of mothers of children with autism had elevated levels of depressive symptoms over an 18-month period, that figure was between 6% and 13% for mothers whose children did not have autism.
The results highlight the need to think about the parents’ mental health and well-being, even when the child is the patient receiving support, Roubinov said.
“A lot of our treatments or interventions for children’s behavior problems are child-focused or parenting-focused, which are certainly very important. But aside from that, I think it suggests to health professionals and other mental health professionals that we really need to think about mental health at the family level. How are we supporting everyone in the family?” she said.
Even in standard screenings, any history of mental health problems in a family is considered, Roubinov said, but treatment doesn’t always follow.
“We should not only think of it as part of the evaluation, but also as part of the treatment plan,” he suggested.
To measure depressive symptoms, the researchers used a measure called the Depressive Symptom Inventory, which the mothers completed themselves. Moms also reported their children’s behaviors using the Child’s Challenging Behavior Scale. The team worked with 86 mother-child pairs, half of which included children with autism and the other half with neurotypical children. About 75% of the children included in the study were of primary school age or younger, although some were as young as 16.
“It indicates that it is something that we can use to reassure mothers, in essence, that having mental health problems does not make their children’s behavior worse,” said Dr. Ludmila De Faria. She is chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Committee on Women’s Mental Health and an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville. “It’s definitely a positive thing.”
While knowing that your mental state doesn’t necessarily make your child’s condition worse can be a relief, it may not alleviate depression, according to de Faria, who was not involved in the study.
“Hormonal changes in women contribute to depression, for example,” De Faria said. “There are genetic factors. Genetic predisposition could be a contributing factor. Adverse childhood events for mothers when they were growing up, environmental factors such as social determinants of health, living in poverty, not having access to health care, not having access to resources for their child, including respite care. All that, which can fall under social determinants of healthcan contribute to the development of depression.
But simply telling their primary care doctors about their feelings can help women get referrals for treatment, she noted.
“From a women’s mental health perspective, I think it’s great that people are addressing this,” de Faria said. “And I think it’s great that now the research is coming in and it’s actually pulling apart and looking at causality and which way things are going, and really showing mothers that if you have access to the right support, then it doesn’t matter if you’re depressed or Whether you have a diagnosis of depression or not, that’s not necessarily the root cause of your child’s problems.”
The US National Institute of Mental Health has more about depression.
SOURCES: Danielle Roubinov, PhD, assistant professor, department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, University of California, San Francisco; Ludmila De Faria, MD, chair of the American Psychiatric Association Committee on Women’s Mental Health and associate professor in the department of psychiatry, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville; Family ProcessAugust 26, 2022
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