Empatia no desenvolvimento típico: relação entre autorrelatos e comportamentos empáticos

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Psicologia

Contributos dos doutores palhaços da Operação Nariz Vermelho para a qualidade da adaptação e do desenvolvimento em contexto pediátrico: o olhar da criança e seus pais

Tese de doutoramento em Ciências da Educação (Área Especialidade em Psicologia da Educação)

Maternal attachment representations in relation to emotional availability and discipline behaviour

"Published online: 15 Sep 2015."

Breastfeeding and postpartum depression: state of the art review

Objective: To review the literature on the association between breastfeeding and postpartum depression. Sources: A review of literature found on MEDLINE/ PubMed database. Summary of findings: The literature consistently shows that breastfeeding provides a wide range of benefits for both the child and the mother. The psychological benefits for the mother are still in need of further research. Some studies point out that pregnancy depression is one of the factors that may contribute to breastfeeding failure. Others studies also suggest an association between breastfeeding and postpartum depression; the direction of this association is still unclear. Breastfeeding can promote hormonal processes that protect mothers against postpartum depression by attenuating cortisol response to stress. It can also reduce the risk of postpartum depression, by helping the regulation of sleep and wake patterns for mother and child, improving mother’s self efficacy and her emotional involvement with the child, reducing the child’s temperamental difficulties, and promoting a better interaction between mother and child. Conclusions: Studies demonstrate that breastfeeding can protect mothers from postpartum depression, and are starting to clarify which biological and psychological processes may explain this protection. However, there are still equivocal results in the literature that may be explained by the methodological limitations presented by some studies.

Mother's stress, mood and emotional involvement with the infant: 3 months before and 3 months after childbirth

Adverse effects of maternal anxiety and depression are well documented, namely on the foetus/child behaviour and development, but not as much attention has been given to the mother's emotional involvement with the offspring. To study mother's prenatal and postpartum stress, mood and emotional involvement with the infant, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and the Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale were filled in and cortisol levels were measured, 3 months before and 3 months after childbirth, in a sample of 91 Portuguese women. From pregnancy to the postpartum period, mother's cortisol levels, anxiety and emotional involvement toward the child decrease. No significant change was observed regarding mother's depression. Mother's depression predicted a worse emotional involvement before childbirth, while mother's anxiety predicted a worse emotional involvement with the infant after childbirth. Additionally, pregnant women with a worse emotional involvement with the offspring are at risk of poorer emotional involvement with the infant and higher anxiety and depression at 3 months postpartum. It should be given more attention to mother's poor emotional involvement with the offspring during pregnancy, as it interferes with her emotional involvement with the infant and her psychological adjustment 3 months after childbirth.