Personality and post-natal depression

There are well established links between people's personality, the way they think about the world and their vulnerability to depression but it is less clear whether these factors have the same influence on people's tendency to develop postnatal depression. A team of researchers led by Lisa Jones from the University of Birmingham carried out a study of 447 women. 143 had had postnatal depression, 131 had had children and had had depression but not postnatal depression and 173 made up a healthy control group. Both the groups who had suffered from depression had higher levels of neuroticism (a tendency to get anxious and depressed about things) and dysfunctional beliefs and lower self-esteem than the other women but there were no significant differences between the women who had suffered from postnatal depression and those who had depression at other times.

Jones, Lisa ... [et al] - Cognitive style, personality and vulnerability to postnatal depression British Journal of Psychiatry March 2010, 196(3), 200-205