m/disorders/postpartum.htm)
             Within such research are clues to the epidemiology, outward symptoms and
             possible interventions for the problem. This work will analyze those three
             factors as they relate to the individual and the family and as they apply
             to the professional. Social support has been found, in much research to be
             a major contributing factor to maladaptive parenting behavior and many
             difficulties faced by new parents, especially new mothers. "Endocrine
             changes, fatigue, and the responsibilities of motherhood are the probable
             causes of postpartum depression. The mother, unconsciously, resents the
             baby. Consciously, she is depressed." (Miletich, 1995, p. 50) It has been
             made clear over the last twenty years of research that postpartum
             depression does have a clinical cause, clinical solutions such as
             medication are limited by the pregnancy and nursing phases
             Pharmacotherapy during pregnancy has potential teratogenetic risk (
             American Academy of Pediatrics, 1994), as most antidepressant
             medications cross the placenta; the few studies examining their fetal
             effects have been inconclusive ( Chambers et al., 1996; Pastuszak et
             al., 1993; Koren, 1994; Nulman et al., 1997). Moreover, medication may
             carry the risk of behavioral morbidity for the fetus. The fetus
             develops behavioral responses quite early in gestation. It responds to
             external sounds from at least twenty weeks, and can produce its own
             hormonal and other stress responses from mid-gestation ( Glover,
             1997). (Weissman, Markowitz & Klerman, 2000, p. 300)
             For this reason social support and clinical counseling treatments are often
             the solution to early intervention and treatment for post partum
             depression, in its mildest and most severe cases.
             Social support is associated with the adaptation to parenthood and
             positive mother-infant interactions. For exam...