UCSB Anthropology Brown Bag Lecture Series Presents:
Postpartum depression: Illness or Adaptation?
By Ed
Hagen
The core symptom of depression-loss of interest or pleasure in nearly all
activities-challenges evolutionary approaches to the study of human
behavior. Why would any organism cease pursuing beneficial activities,
particularly those directly involved in raising offspring? It is tempting
to conclude that depression must be an illness or disorder, but the
commonness of the symptom makes such a conclusion suspect. Given the high
levels of investment required to successfully raise human offspring,
mothers are vulnerable to exploitation by fathers and family members who
fail to provide sufficient investment once the child is born. Numerous
studies of depression and spousal relations pre- and post-partum support
the hypothesis that postpartum depression may be a strategy by the mother
to elicit greater investment from the father and family members by making
a
credible threat of defecting from the offspring.
Postpartum depression working
paper.
Wednesday May 15, 1996
2052 North Hall
