Everything Tagged with 'adoption'
Understanding Post-Adoption Depression
The New York Times’ “Well” Blog:
It’s not uncommon for new mothers to experience depression, which is usually attributed to hormonal fluctuations and lack of sleep after childbirth. But new research shows that depression after the arrival of a child isn’t limited to birth parents: adoptive parents are also at risk for depression after bringing a child home.
Depression appears to be common among the two million couples in the United States who adopt children annually. Last year, The Journal of Affective Disorders reported on a study of 39 adoptive mothers that showed 15 percent were experiencing depression six weeks after the adoption. Notably, 25 percent of parents had experienced depression before the child had arrived, possibly explained by the uncertainty and dashed hopes that are common during the adoption process.