Studies do suggest that higher levels of PPD symptoms in mothers motivate more child care by fathers, and increased social support is one of the best predictors for the remission of PPD.

Postpartum depression, in particular, has been drawing growing attention, afflicting some 15% of new mothers, as Michelle said in her eloquent post on the challenges of returning to work with PPD.

This "psychic pain hypothesis" cannot explain the whole story, however, because few parents suffering from PPD abandon their newborn.