90 PARENTING ABILITIES IN DRUG DEPENDENT WOMEN: THE NEG-ATIVE EFFECT OF DEPRESSION

Abstract

Studies of depressed women have shown that acute depressive episodes can markedly impair a woman's capacity to mother. Women who are substance abusers have experienced significant loss in their lives, including placement of children, which contributes to depression; conversely depression, in conjunction with guilt associated with abstinence in the newborn, may impair or distort maternal attachment. Family Center is a comprehensive program providing obstetrical, psychosocial, and addictive services for pregnant drug dependent women and their children. Patients admitted in 1979 and 1980 have been assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory in order to determine whether depression was a factor which contributed to difficulty in parenting among this population. Of 84 multiparous women tested, 75% showed varying levels of depression rated as mild (19%), moderate (37%) or severe (19%). Of these women, 42% had children currently in placement with relatives or foster parents. When compared to women whose children were in their own care it was revealed that there was a significantly higher incidence of moderate or severe depression among the women whose children were in placement, X²₃= 8.176, p<.05. Our observations, in conjunction with these data, suggest that maternal depression compounds the negative effects of drug abuse on parenting abilities. Prenatal intervention to identify depression is essential so that these women and their families can receive guidance in order to promote attachment.

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