Various hypotheses have been advanced to explain the high prevalence of mental health problems during the perinatal period, ranging from biological (., hormones and neurochemical modifications) to psychological (., personality types and ways of thinking) and social determinants (., gender disparities in access to education and income-generating opportunities, social roles, disproportionate burden of unpaid work, exposure to family violence, low autonomy, poverty and coincidental adversity) explanations. Overall the evidence is that these conditions are multifactorially determined (45). The theory of Brown and Harris (46), that women are more likely to become depressed when they experience entrapment and humiliation, is.
