Alexithymia and postpartum anxiety and depression symptoms: a follow-up study in a pregnancy cohort

First-Time Parents' Bonding with Their Baby: A Longitudinal Study on Finnish Parents during the First Eight Months of Parenthood

Early positive bonding between parents and babies promotes the development of parenting skills and parents' sensitivity to their infant's needs. Positive bonding has been suggested to decrease the risk of maltreatment. There is less research into the differences between primiparae's and their spouses' bonding with their baby and changes in the parent-to-infant bonding during the first year of the baby's life. The aim of this study was to describe bonding with one's baby and related differences and changes within first-time parents. The data were collected from nine maternal health clinics in 2019-2021 in one city in Finland. The Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale (MIBS) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) were used. The data were collected during pregnancy (T1) and when the baby was aged 1-2 months (T2) and 6-8 months (T3). The questionnaire was completed separately by the primiparae (n = 81 at T1) and their spouses (n = 79 at T1). The findings demonstrated that both parents had positive feelings for their baby. The primiparae's and their spouses' MIBS scores were relatively low at T2 and T3. The change between time points or the difference in the parents' bonding was not statistically significant when examining MIBS total scores. The present study identified a positive weak-to-moderate correlation between the MIBS and EPDS. This association was highlighted in the group of primiparae. The results of this study can be used to develop maternity and child health clinic services, and to promote parents' equal growth in parenthood.

Nausea and vomiting during pregnancy: a possible correlation with obsessive compulsive disorder and alexithymia

The possible correlation between nausea and vomiting during pregnancy (NVP) with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and alexithymia were examined in this cross-sectional study. A cohort of pregnant women at the first trimester of pregnancy experiencing NVP were divided into three groups, according to severity (mild, moderate and severe) with the Pregnancy Unique Quantification of Emesis and Nausea (PUQE) test. The Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Scale (MOCQ) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) were applied. Scores of scales were compared in all three groups, and the relationship between NVP severity and OCD and alexithymia was evaluated. On the 110 enrolled pregnant women, 42 had mild, 36 had moderate and 32 had severe NVP. Pregnant women with mild NVP had lower MOCQ scores than those with severe NVP (p = .010). Total scores of TAS-20 were higher among subjects with greater NVP severity (p < .001). PUQE scores were demonstrated significant correlations with MOCQ and total and subsection scores of the TAS-20, regardless of NVP groups. Study results showed that women with more pronounced OCD and/or alexithymia can experience somatic complaints, such as NVP, particularly intense in their first trimester of pregnancies. For this reason, psychotherapy in addition to medical treatments could be recommended to pregnant women with severe NVP.Impact statementWhat is already known on this subject? NVP is a condition experienced by most women, particularly in the first trimester of pregnancy, which can be affected by the psychosomatic condition of the pregnant woman.What do the results of this study add? The severity of nausea and vomiting according to PUQE test were significantly associated with OCD and alexithymia presence in pregnant women during their first trimester period.What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? These findings might demonstrate the symptoms of NVP are correlated to OCD, as well as alexithymia. Longitudinal studies are required to demonstrate the clear causal relationship between NVP and psychiatric symptoms as in OCD and in alexithymia.

Prevalence of prenatal and postpartum depression in fathers: A comprehensive meta-analysis of observational surveys

BACKGROUND

Increasing attention has been paid to maternal prenatal and postpartum depressive symptoms (depression thereafter), but little is known about the prevalence of paternal prenatal and postpartum depression. To fill this gap, the current study meta-analyzed the worldwide prevalence of prenatal and postpartum depression in fathers.

METHODS

Studies that reported paternal depression occurring between the first trimester and the first postpartum year were identified by searching both international (PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science and EMBASE) and Chinese (WanFang and CNKI) databases between their inception date and July 1, 2018. A random-effects model was used to calculate pooled estimates and 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTS

Forty-seven studies with 20,728 subjects were included in the meta-analysis. The prevalence of prenatal depression in fathers was 9.76% in all three trimesters, 13.59% in the first, 11.31% in the second and 10.12% in the third trimester. The prevalence of postpartum depression was 8.75% within a whole year, 8.98% within one-month, 7.82% between one- and three months, 9.23% between three months and six months and 8.40% between six months to twelve months after child-birth. The prevalence of paternal postpartum depression was moderated by year of publication, study area, age of fathers of ≥18 years, quality assessment score and mean age (all P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

This meta-analysis found that the prevalence of prenatal and postpartum depression in fathers was relatively common. Regular screening, effective prevention and appropriate treatment need to be implemented in this population.

Importance of considering interoceptive abilities in alexithymia assessment

BACKGROUND

Recent studies have shown that people with high alexithymia scores have decreased interoceptive abilities, which can be associated with psychological and physical disorders. Early assessments of the alexithymia trait included the evaluation of these abilities through the dimension measuring the difficulty in identifying and distinguishing between feelings and bodily sensations (the 26-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale; TAS-26). The revised version of the TAS, the TAS-20, contains a three-factor solution that does not involve a dimension assessing interoceptive abilities. However, the three items allowing the evaluation of these abilities are still present in the TAS-20. In this context, we hypothesized that the 3 items which assess interoceptive abilities in the TAS-20 should constitute an independent factor. In addition to exploring the internal structure of the TAS-20, we examined its external validity by assessing the relationships between the new factors and self-reported measures of personality trait and psychological and physical health.

METHOD

Two online studies (N = 253 and N = 287) were performed. The participants completed the TAS-20 and a set of psychological questionnaires (e.g., anxiety, depression) and health questions (e.g., "Do you suffer from a somatic disorder?"). The structure of the TAS-20 was examined using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), followed by an investigation of the relationships between the resulting new factors and other psychological and health data using regressions. In both studies, EFA revealed a new structure of the questionnaire consisting of four dimensions: (1) difficulty in the awareness of feelings, (2) externally oriented thinking, (3) difficulty in interoceptive abilities, and (4) poor affective sharing. The first factor was positively associated with all self-reported psychological and personality trait measures while the third factor was associated more with somatic disorders and medication intake.

RESULTS

Our results suggest the presence of a new latent factor in the assessment of alexithymia that reflects interoceptive abilities specifically related to health and personality trait outcomes. In accordance with the results and the literature, it seems important to include an assessment of interoceptive abilities when considering the evaluation of alexithymia. The next step would be to develop a valid measure of these abilities.

Depressive Symptoms in Late Pregnancy Disrupt Attentional Processing of Negative-Positive Emotion: An Eye-Movement Study

This study investigated biases for negative-positive information in component processes of visual attention (initial shift vs. maintenance of gaze) among women in late pregnancy with or without depressive symptoms. Eye movements were recorded while participants viewed a series of picture pairs depicting negative, positive, and neutral scenes. Initial orienting (latency and percentage of first fixation) and gaze duration were computed. Compared with neutral pictures, the group with major depressive symptoms (MDS) were less able to sense the positive emotion-related pictures and were over-responsive to negative emotion-related pictures. The group with suspicious depressive symptoms (SDS) had an attention bias toward both positive and negative emotion-related pictures. The group with no depressive symptoms (NDS) had an attention bias toward positive emotion-related pictures and had an initial attention avoidance tendency for negative emotion-related pictures. The initial gaze direction bias score for negative emotion-related pictures was positively correlated with the severity of depressive symptoms. Therefore, women with a risk of perinatal depression have a significant bias toward negative stimuli. Hypervigilant emotion processing during pregnancy may increase a woman's susceptibility to depression during late pregnancy. Attention away from negative information or attention toward positive information may provide a way of buffering emotional responses.

Postnatal anxiety prevalence, predictors and effects on development: A narrative review

The increasing prevalence of postnatal anxiety highlights the need for summarizing the recent research on this condition to inform screening and intervention efforts. This narrative review of the literature was derived from a search on PubMed and PsycINFO for papers published since 2010. The demographic risk factors for postnatal anxiety include being a young mother, having more education and being employed. Childbirth risk factors include being primiparous in one sample and multiparous in another, caesarean delivery, fear of the birth and of death during delivery, lack of control during labor, low self-confidence for the delivery and the delivery staff, and premature delivery. Social support problems include the lack of family support, marital/family conflict, and social health issues. Psychiatric history risk factors include prenatal depression and anxiety. Postnatal anxiety has negative effects on breast-feeding, bonding, mother-infant interactions, infant temperament, sleep, mental development, health and internalizing behavior and on conduct disorder in adolescents. Unfortunately, only six postnatal anxiety intervention studies could be found including paternal education, music therapy during labor, mothers massaging their infants, cognitive behavior therapy and administering oxytocin. The negative effects of postnatal anxiety and the limitations of the research in this review highlight the need for further research.

The Big Five personality dimensions and mental health: The mediating role of alexithymia

The role of personality constructs on mental health has attracted research attention in the last few decades. The Big Five personality traits have been introduced as parsimonious dimensions of non-pathological traits. The five-factor model of personality includes neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness to experience. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between the Big Five dimensions and mental health considering the mediating role of alexithymia as an important emotional-processing construct. A total of 257 participants were recruited from non-clinical settings in the general population. All participants completed the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI), 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28). Structural equation modeling was utilized to examine the hypothesized mediated model. Findings indicated that the Big Five personality dimensions could significantly predict scores of alexithymia. Moreover, alexithymia could predict mental health scores as measured by indices of depression, anxiety, social functioning, and somatic symptoms. The fit indices (GFI=0.94; CFI=0.91; TLI=0.90; RMSEA=0.071; CMIN/df=2.29) indicated that the model fits the data. Therefore, the relationship between the Big Five personality dimensions and mental health is mediated by alexithymia.