The effects of postnatal maternal depression and anxiety on the processing of infant faces

Abstract

BackgroundPostnatally depressed mothers have difficulties responding appropriately to their infants. The quality of the mother–child relationship depends on a mother's ability to respond to her infant's cues, which are largely non-verbal. Therefore, it is likely that difficulties in a mother's appraisal of her infants' facial expressions will affect the quality of mother–infant interaction. This study aimed to investigate the effects of postnatal depression and anxiety on the processing of infants' facial expressions.MethodA total of 89 mothers, 34 with Generalised Anxiety Disorder, 21 with Major Depressive Disorder, and 34 controls, completed a ‘morphed infants’ faces task when their children were between 10 and 18 months.ResultsOverall, mothers were more likely to identify happy faces accurately and at lower intensity than sad faces. Depressed compared to control participants, however, were less likely to accurately identify happy infant faces. Interestingly, mothers with GAD tended to identify happy faces at a lower intensity than controls. There were no differences between the groups in relation to sad faces.LimitationsOur sample was relatively small and further research is needed to investigate the links between mothers' perceptions of infant expressions and both maternal responsiveness and later measures of child development.ConclusionOur findings have potential clinical implications as the difficulties in the processing of positive facial expressions in depression may lead to less maternal responsiveness to positive affect in the offspring and may diminish the quality of the mother–child interactions. Results for participants with GAD are consistent with the literature demonstrating that persons with GAD are intolerant of uncertainty and seek reassurance due to their worries.

Cognitive biases in processing infant emotion by women with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in pregnancy or after birth: A systematic review

“…Additionally, Gil, Teissèdre, Chambres, and Droit-Volet (2011) found that mothers with high state anxiety were more likely to rate sad infant faces as being sadder, and mothers high in trait anxiety were more likely to rate neutral infant faces as being sad. There was also a trend for those with both anxiety and depression to be able to identify sadness in infant faces, when it was morphed with a happy face, before controls (Arteche et al, 2011). These biases appear to be specific to infant faces and are not observed when studies use stimuli with adult faces with depressed women (Flanagan, White, & Carter, 2011;Gil et al, 2011) or anxious women (Pearson, Lightman & Evans, 2009).…”

“…Postnatal women with depressive and anxiety symptoms appear to be more sensitive towards sad infant faces (Arteche et al, 2011;Gil et al, 2011;Stein et al, 2010) compared to happy infant faces (Arteche et al, 2011;Steine et al, 2011). This sensitivity is less apparent when adult faces are used as stimuli (Flanagan, White, & Carter, 2011;Gil et al, 2011;Pearson et al, 2009;Stein et al, 2010).…”

“…For example, Stein et al (2010) and Gil et al (2011) found no effect of depressive symptoms on identifying positive emotions. However, Arteche et al (2011) found that women with depression were less accurate at identifying happiness in infant faces. Similar results are found for anxiety with Arteche et al (2011) and Stein et al (2010) finding a trend for mothers with diagnosed anxiety to be less accurate at identifying happy infant faces than controls.…”

“…However, Arteche et al (2011) found that women with depression were less accurate at identifying happiness in infant faces. Similar results are found for anxiety with Arteche et al (2011) and Stein et al (2010) finding a trend for mothers with diagnosed anxiety to be less accurate at identifying happy infant faces than controls. However, Gil et al (2011) and Pearson, Lightman, and Evans (2009) found that anxiety symptoms had no influence on the identification of happiness in either adult or infant faces.…”

Perinatal Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Assessment and Treatment

“…In addition, these infants appeared to be withdrawn and were more likely to display lowered emotional tone. In a study by Arteche et al, 18 women suffering from postpartum depression or GAD were less likely to identify happy infant faces accurately due to excessive maternal worry.…”