Early morning cortisol response and emotional processing in adults exposed to postnatal depression in infancy.
Douglas JL., Harmer CJ.
Emotional processing and cortisol were investigated in non-depressed young adults whose mothers experienced PND. PND-exposed participants (n=11) had higher waking salivary cortisol and slower performance on an emotional categorization task than controls (n=15). This supports the hypothesis that early exposure to maternal depression is associated with characteristics reminiscent of vulnerability to depression.