Depression is a serious emotional and psychological illness which involves the brain. In depression the feelings of sadness, fear, and anxiety tend to not go away in time and at times even interfere with day to day activities of the individual. The intensity of these feeling may range from mild to highly sever in some cases. Depression during pregnancy is a commonly observed phenomenon and many women trend to feel depressed in the few months post delivery. Some of the common symptoms of depression in pregnancy are feeling moody or restless, crying a lot for no tangible reason.
Feeling sad and hopeless, eating too little or too much, sleeping too much or too little, having problems with ones memory and focusing on things etc. Pregnancy and depression tend to go hand in hand if there are certain predisposing factors that make depression during pregnancy more likely such as childhood trauma such as death or illness of a sibling or parent, family history of depression, childhood sexual abuse, stress, substance abuse and low socioeconomic status etc. The depression during pregnancy treatment includes medications, joining support groups and even therapy. Depression during pregnancy treatment is essential because this depression if left untreated may result in poor prenatal care, poor weight gain preeclampsia which is a type of blood pressure that tends to occur during pregnancy, unhealthy eating habits, suicidal thoughts, use of drugs and alcohol etc.
It has been observed that mothers or pregnant women who are depressed tend to be unable to care for themselves or their children and are also not able to bond well with their children. Treatment for depression during pregnancy is also possible without medication wherein the pregnant woman may resort to counseling or therapy with a mental healthy professional.
In case the depression is mild then one may even take up group or individual therapy. Some people are also known to suffer from a condition called Seasonal affective disorder wherein they tend to get more depressed during the winter or the fall when there is less sunlight. In such cases depression may be treated with light therapy.
There are also several anti depressants that are available to treat depression , however pregnant women or women who plan on getting pregnant should consult with their doctor first to check of it is safe for them and the fetus to take these medications. This is because there are some antidepressants that have been linked to problems such as low birth weight, heart problems and even high blood pressure.
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