Depressed mothers may react less to the sound of a crying baby than mothers who do not suffer from depression, finds a new study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
Researchers at the University of Oregon recruited 22 first-time mothers with 18-month-old infants. The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to see how the brain responded to the sound of a crying baby.
For mothers who weren’t depressed, the MRI showed increased activity in the reward center of the brain when they heard the infant crying.
"In this context, it was interesting to see that the non-depressed mothers were able to respond to this cry sound as a positive cue," said the study’s lead author, Heidemarie K. Laurent. "Their response was consistent with wanting to approach their infants. Depressed mothers were really lacking in that response."
The researchers are concerned that depression could severely effect the mother-child bond by making the mother less responsive to emotional cues from their child.
"Some of these prefrontal problems may be changed more easily by addressing current symptoms, but there may be deeper, longer-lasting deficits at the motivational levels of the brain that will take more time to overcome," concluded Laurent.