Dependency and self‐criticism in post‐partum depression and anxiety: a case control study

Abstract

This study investigates the role of self-criticism and dependency in inpatient post-partum depressed women (n = 55) and non-depressed controls (n = 37) as well as the relationship between both personality dimensions and severity of depression and anxiety. As expected, mothers with post-partum depression showed not only increased levels of depression but also anxiety compared with non-depressed mothers. Furthermore, they had significantly higher levels of self-criticism, but not of dependency. In the post-partum depressed mothers, both personality dimensions were positively associated with severity of depression. However, in non-depressed mothers, self-criticism was positively associated with depression, while there was an inverse relationship between dependency and severity of depression. In both samples, self-criticism, but not dependency, was related to state anxiety. The cross-sectional nature of this study limits the ability to draw causal conclusions. The study was based on self-report and conducted in relatively small samples.

In first-time mothers, post-partum depressive symptom prospectively predict symptoms of post-traumatic stress

“…In general, our findings bear some important theoretical and clinical implications. Theoretically, the effect of depressive symptoms on PTSD symptoms might highlight the centrality of depressive symptoms as a prevalent, but also quite ominous, experience felt by women postdelivery (see findings consistent with this conclusion in research on Israeli women: Besser et al, 2008;Priel and Besser, 1999). Clinically, our point out to the need to assess depressive symptoms immediately after birth, and to intervene if necessary.…”

The role of self-criticism in common mental health difficulties in students: A systematic review of prospective studies

“…Similarly, amongst both depressed patients and college students, self-criticism has been observed to account for a significant amount of variance in measures of depression beyond that accounted for by neuroticism (Clara, Cox & Enns, 2003). Mothers with post-partum depression have also been found to have significantly higher levels of self-criticism (Vliegen & Luyten, 2009). Self-criticism is not unique to depression, however; for instance, Luyten and colleagues (2007) observed that self-criticism did not differ between depressed and mixed psychiatric patients.…”

The Explanatory Role of Basic Psychological Need Experiences in the Relation between Dependency, Self-Criticism and Psychopathology in Adolescence

“…Modification indices suggested to add a correlation between dependency and one specific indicator of the latent factor representing internalizing problems, that is, anxiousdepressed symptoms. This association is theoretically meaningful as dependent individuals indeed are assumed to experience higher levels of anxiety -especially anxiety concerning abandonment or loss of love (e.g., Vliegen & Luyten, 2009). Therefore, we added this correlation, resulting in improved model fit [χ 2 (48)=104.84 , RMSEA= .07, CFI= .95, SRMR= .05].…”