Postpartum Depression and Maternity Blues in Immigrants

A number of studies identify significantly elevated levels of psychological distress among immigrants than non-immigrant population (Mirsky, 2008, Taloyan et al, 2008). International migration has been characterized as a stressful life-event that causes an overburdening of the ‘psychosomatic adjustment capacity’, leading to higher emotional distress, diminished well-being and illness (Hull, 1979). The elevated psychological distress can affect directly the immigrants’ everyday life leading to higher alcohol use, lower quality of life or even suicide ideation (Daher et al, 2011; Lindert et al, 2008). Most of the studies assessing immigrants’ psychopathology have not focused on discrete psychiatric disorders but on general psychological distress, which includes anxiety, depressive feelings and somatisation. In a telephone survey conducted in Israel, 52% of adult immigrants reported depressive symptomatology compared to 38% of nonimmigrants (Gross et al, 2001). Also, immigrant women were one-and-a-half times more likely than Israel born women to suffer from anxiety disorders (Mirsky et al, 2008). Furthermore, immigration as well as the adaptation process to the mainstream culture of the new country has been linked to mental disorders and especially depression (Gonidakis et al, 2011; Madianos et al, 2008, Sam, 2006a).