Battling Depression

By Joanne King

There’s no more joyful event for most women than the birth of a child. In the best case scenario, after the months of doctor visits, prenatal vitamins and extra healthy eating, the mother is rewarded with a tight fisted and wailing bundle of joy. Afterwards, mommy and the new baby go home to spend the next few weeks happily getting to know one another. At least, that’s the way it is supposed to happen.

Sometimes mommy doesn’t fair too well, and becomes a victim of postpartum depression, also known as peripartum depression. This illness can strike up to a year after the mother has given birth. After pregnancy, the woman’s body goes through hormonal changes which can cause symptoms of depression. Estrogen and progesterone are produced heavily during pregnancy, however twenty four hours after delivery, these hormones slide quickly back down to their normal pre-pregnancy levels. These fast hormone level changes are thought to be the cause of postpartum depression, just as hormonal changes prior to a woman’s menstrual cycle can cause mood swings.

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By DM Driscoll

Science and Mythology of Depression and Pregnancy

When considering both depression and pregnancy, it is important to separate science from mythology. One pervasive parcel of mythology extant today is that women who have depression can negate it by getting pregnant. Popular myth dictates that the hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy will somehow alter brain chemistry, lifting pregnant women out of depression. In the past, doctors even espoused this link between depression and pregnancy as true. Today, science has largely disproved this.

A number of tests conducted in Massachusetts about the link between depression and pregnancy concluded that pregnancy actually has no effect on clinical depression whatsoever: getting pregnant does not alter brain chemistry in any way that might alleviate depression – and even worse, getting pregnant often has the opposite effect: it can actually worsen depression.

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By Michael Colucci

Postpartum depression is a condition that is primarily seen in women who have just given birth. While it may also be present in men, it is not as extensive. This disorder is considered to be a type of major depression, and there are a number of ways it can be treated. Postpartum depression is experienced by over 70% of women who have recently given birth. The symptoms for this condition may last for hours or days, and patients will be irritable, unable to concentrate, and may also experience a loss of sleep or headaches.

The diagnosis for postpartum depression is similar to other forms of major depression. However, the difference between PPD and other forms of depression is that those who are suffering from PPD will typically begin having symptoms a month after they have given birth. In addition to this, the condition may also develop during the pregnancy as well. Many of the causes of PPD are not well understood. However, there are a few factors that are believed to cause the disorder. One cause is the prenatal depression that may be experienced during pregnancy. A woman who has a low self esteem is also at a higher risk for developing PPD.

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Postpartum Depression

By Andrew Bicknell

Postpartum depression or peripartum depression occurs after a woman gives birth. Within a few hours of giving birth the amount of the two female hormones, estrogen and progesterone, return to their pre pregnancy levels. Many researchers feel that this drop in hormone levels, much like the smaller changes in hormone levels can affect a womans mood just before her menstrual cycle, is one of the causes of postpartum depression.

In some women the levels of thyroid hormones decrease as well. This decrease in these hormones can lead to symptoms of depression too. Some of these symptoms include a depressed mood, a loss of interest in daily things, problems sleeping and fatigue, irritability and weight gain.

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How Can You Identify Postpartum Depression?

By Kitty Barker

Sometimes women suffer with depression immediately after child birth and this depression is known as postpartum depression. There are five kinds of postpartum depression, any of which can occur after child birth; however similar depression can also occur before or during pregnancy as well.

Patients of postpartum depression who have had other kinds of depression in their lives state that this depression feels very different from any other kind of depression that they have faced in their lives.

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