Study: ADHD Increases Risk for Postpartum Depression, Anxiety

April 14, 2023

ADHD increases the likelihood of postpartum depression (PPD) and postpartum anxiety in more significant and impactful ways than do other well-established risks like comorbid psychiatric disorders or sociodemographic factors in women, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. ¹

The research found that 25% of women with ADHD had postpartum anxiety, compared to 4.61% of women without ADHD. In addition, almost 17% of women with ADHD had PPD, compared to 3.3% without ADHD.

“ADHD is an important risk factor for depression and anxiety disorders postpartum,” the researchers wrote. “Therefore, ADHD needs to be considered in maternal care, regardless of sociodemographic factors and other psychiatric disorders.”

Using population-based registers from Sweden, the researchers identified 773,047 women who gave birth to their first or second child between 2005-2013. Of that number, 3,515 had received an ADHD diagnosis before their pregnancy. They also analyzed data on women’s depression and anxiety diagnoses before pregnancy, maternal age at delivery, highest achieved maternal education at childbirth, cohabitation status with their child’s father, and family history of depression and anxiety disorders.

The study found that the risk of PPD and postpartum anxiety was lower for women diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder before pregnancy and those with a history or family history of depression or anxiety. The researchers suggested that women diagnosed before pregnancy with ADHD and depression or ADHD and anxiety may have received greater support and treatment during and after their pregnancies compared to women diagnosed with ADHD alone.

Women with ADHD Become Pregnant Younger

Women diagnosed with ADHD were more likely to have a lower education level and less likely to live with the father of their child compared to women without ADHD, according to the researchers.

The study also reported that women with ADHD gave birth to their first child at a younger age (15–24 years) than did women without ADHD (25–34 years), supporting previous research. A study published in the Journal of Attention Disorders of more than 7,500 adolescents with ADHD and 30,000 adolescents without ADHD in Taiwan found that participants with ADHD became pregnant younger, more frequently, and had a higher risk of early pregnancy than did their neurotypical peers.² A large Danish study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry reported that girls with ADHD were more than three and a half times as likely as their peers to become pregnant between the ages of 12 and 15.³

“It’s common to find a history of early initiation of sexual activity, early intercourse, more sexual partners, more casual sex, less protected sex, more sexually transmitted infections, and more unplanned pregnancies in women with ADHD,” said Ellen Littman, Ph.D., in discussing how hormonal fluctuations impact women in the ADDitude webinar titled Why ADHD is Different for Women: Gender Specific Symptoms & Treatments.

In addition, the Swedish study found that 59% of the women diagnosed with ADHD had an additional psychiatric disorder compared to only 5% of the women without ADHD.

“The combination of being diagnosed with ADHD and being pregnant at a young age could increase the vulnerability and therefore the risk of being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder postpartum, such as depression and anxiety,” researchers wrote. “However, results from the present study also show that women diagnosed with ADHD have an increased risk of depression and anxiety disorders regardless of age. This highlights the importance of health care providers to evaluate women diagnosed with ADHD across the lifespan.”

Postpartum Depression and ADHD

In a recent ADDitude survey of 2,027 women with ADHD, one-third of mothers reported that they experienced PPD, including the following symptoms:

• crying spells: 76%
• feelings of worthlessness, shame, guilt, or inadequacy: 76%
• mood swings: 66%
• irritability: 62%
• lack of concentration: 58%
• sleep problems: 57%
• withdrawing from friends and family 55%
• restlessness 46%
• appetite changes (increase or decrease) 37%
• thoughts of harm to self or others 31%
• other 24%
• extreme mood disorder or psychosis 13%
• self-harm 6%

“My ADHD got significantly worse postpartum,” said a survey respondent. “I felt overwhelmed and was not supported by my husband. He’d say things like, ‘Sarah next door has four children, and she copes. I don’t understand why you can’t even manage to keep things organized when you only have one!’”

“Something in me definitely changed after giving birth,” said an ADDitude reader from Ontario, Canada. “My doctors told me it was ‘anxiety’ and hormones. Although tired and sleep-deprived from the baby, I could not shut down my racing mind. I was constantly irritable, impatient, and a complete space cadet. I did suffer from postpartum depression after the birth of my second child. That is when I looked deeper into the root of my troubles. I have always wondered if I had PPD after my first child, or was my ADHD so out of control that I didn’t even notice?”

ADDitude survey respondents reported that their PPD symptoms lasted:

• 1-3 months 13.14%
• 4-6 months 18.63%
• 7-13 months 21.63%
• 14-24 months 13.63%
• Longer than two years 14.14%

Women Lack Treatment for Postpartum Depression

Almost half of ADDitude survey respondents said their healthcare providers did not offer treatment for their postpartum depression or anxiety.

“The medical community didn’t take baby blues seriously when my children were born,” said one ADDitude reader. “I just ‘needed to exercise, lose the rest of the baby weight, and focus on my family.’ Then I would be all better.”

“No one talked about it, and my doctor never asked how I was doing. So, I assumed I was weak,” said another survey respondent.

One ADDitude reader found the help she needed on her own. “No doctor cared,” she said. “So I self-treated by researching natural treatments and took several supplements that helped.”

According to the ADDitude survey, 41% of respondents received prescriptions for antidepressants, and 20% received therapy for PPD.

“PPD made it hard to get through anything without going into a guilt-depression spiral,” an ADDitude reader said. “It was awful. Antidepressants changed everything so I could function without spiraling or wanting to disappear.”

Postpartum Depression with Undiagnosed ADHD

Many ADDitude readers who experienced postpartum depression or postpartum anxiety were unaware of their ADHD diagnoses at that time.

“I had depression, anxiety, and just went into full paralysis,” an ADDitude reader said. “I didn’t know I had ADHD. I thought I sucked at everything, so I might as well add motherhood to the list.”

“I lost all sense of myself and pretended to cope,” said an ADDitude reader from Edmonton, Canada. “It wasn’t until I was diagnosed and looked back on my pregnancy that I realized how much ADHD and hormones played a role in my lack of coping. I wish I could go back and talk to that frightened, overwhelmed, and so very sad me and let her know there was a reason for it all.”

ADHD and Maternal Care: Next Steps

The Swedish researchers recommended that primary healthcare providers assess women with ADHD for the risk of PPD and postpartum anxiety beginning with the first prenatal visit. In addition, they said, women with ADHD should receive parental education before conception, psychological surveillance during pregnancy, and social support after childbirth.

According to Littman, women should find a doctor who understands the impact of hormones on ADHD and the interplay with medication. “Finding this professional is perhaps the most important and most difficult thing to do,” she said. “Be sure to ask about their experience treating ADHD in women.”

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