Attachment Styles in Depressed and Non Depressed Mothers Postpartum

Background: Attachment is defined as lasting emotional connectedness. Attachment experiences are one of the basic ingredients in the complexly determined relationship between early experiences of parental care, personality growth and behavior. Attachment theory has been major aids in helping researchers understand how the quality of early and continuing close relationships affect children’s and adults emotional development, interpersonal style and social behavior. Lately studies have shown attachment as a risk factor in postpartum depression. To address this we did a comparison of attachment styles in depressed and non depressed mothers postpartum. Method: 40 patients with depression postpartum (PPD) and 40 control subjects were studied. We compared PPD patients with healthy controls’ attachment styles using the Adult Attachment Questionnaire part I & II. Results: The PPD patients showed more insecure attachment than their non depressed counterparts on both the parts of AAQ revealing significant statistical difference. Limitations: A purposive sample was used, sample size was small, more number of objective measures could be used and a longitudinal design would be more apt to see its long term effects. Conclusion: These results suggest that there is a difference in the attachment styles of depressed and normals postpartum, and PPD patients show more insecure attachment than their counterparts. These findings could be helpful in aiding therapy and rehabilitation of such patient population.