Harasawa Norihiro, Chen Chong, Okawa Sumiyo, Okubo Ryo, Matsubara Toshio, Nakagawa Shin, Tabuchi Takahiro
RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Wako, Saitama, Japan.
Division of Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Ube, Yamaguchi, Japan.
Commun Psychol. 2025 Jan 22;3(1):7. doi: 10.1038/s44271-024-00171-9.
Postpartum depression and mother-to-infant bonding difficulties (MIBD), two issues crucial to maternal and infant mental health, often coexist and affect each other. Our study aims to dissect their complex relationship through a graphical LASSO network analysis of individual symptoms in 5594 Japanese postpartum women, whose geographical distribution was nationally representative. We identified 'fear', 'enjoyment', 'overwhelm', and 'insomnia' as common bridge symptoms linking postpartum depression and MIBD across three distinct postpartum periods. Moreover, 'self-harm' emerged as a bridge symptom in the first 6 months and the 7-12 month period, while 'laugh' was a bridge symptom in the first 6 months and the 13-24 month period. Notably, 'self-blame' was identified as a unique bridge symptom specific to the 13-24 month period. Our analysis highlights the complexities of symptom connectivity across postpartum stages and underscores the critical need for interventions that address both common and stage-specific bridge symptoms to effectively support maternal mental health and strengthen mother-to-infant bonding.
产后抑郁和母婴联结困难（MIBD）是对母婴心理健康至关重要的两个问题，它们常常并存且相互影响。我们的研究旨在通过对5594名具有全国代表性地理分布的日本产后女性的个体症状进行图形化套索网络分析，来剖析它们之间的复杂关系。我们确定了“恐惧”“愉悦”“不知所措”和“失眠”为在三个不同产后阶段连接产后抑郁和MIBD的常见桥梁症状。此外，“自我伤害”在前6个月和7至12个月期间成为桥梁症状，而“大笑”在前6个月和13至24个月期间是桥梁症状。值得注意的是，“自责”被确定为特定于13至24个月期间的独特桥梁症状。我们的分析突出了产后各阶段症状连接的复杂性，并强调迫切需要采取干预措施来解决常见的和特定阶段的桥梁症状，以有效支持产妇心理健康并加强母婴联结。
