Doğum Sonrası Depresyonda Otobiyografik Bellek
Autobiographical Memory in Postpartum Depression

Summary/Abstract: Post-partum depression is a serious disorder that has implications both for the mother’s mental health and for the newborn’s basic needs, such as nutrition, safety and emotional attachment. It is considered to have the same diagnostic criteria as the major depressive disorder except for the fact that postpartum depression is triggered by giving birth. Recent work in cognitive psychology has put forward that autobiographical memory which is defined as the ability to remember specific personal experiences may be related to some of the depressive symptomology. In particular, reductions in the levels of episodic specifici-ty as well as an increase in the level of over-generality of memories were correlated with increased depression levels in both clinical and subclinical populations. In addition, intervention programs designed to increase episodic specificity -the episodic details in an autobiographical event account- of the memories resulted in psychological well-being and general decrease in the depression levels. Given the burden of postpartum depression for both the mother-newborn pair as well as the cost for the general public, findings from studies that investigate the association between major depression and autobiographical memory could be adapted to postpartum depression. Designing low-cost preventive and therapeutic intervention programs is benefi-cial. By reviewing the recent development in the respective fields, the present work aims to contribute both to the theory behind the mechanisms of postpartum depression as well as to the practical suggestions for the health service providers in order to determine the risk groups early on.

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