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Post Natal Depression
Ante-Natal Depression
Brief therapy to reduce and control depression prior to labour is important, especially for those that were depressed before becoming pregnant (see footnote).
Complications, bad experiences with previous pregnancies and child birthing, or even poor quality midwifery or obstetric services can create negative assumptions for the next time around, maybe unable to speak up for herself, feeling out of control of the situation, and previous poor pain management. Unable to bond with their baby afterwards, or suffered post natal depression that she has not got over.
Pregnant women who have been taking anti-depressant medication, and due to pregnancy can no longer take them, may then develop further bouts of depression. By providing better coping skills and mechanisms, allows the female to be more in control of the situation and life in general. Therapy at this stage significantly reduces the chances of post natal or post partum depression.
Post natal depression occurs in 10 - 15% of women within a year of giving birth and have a one in five increase of being depressed after the next birth.
Many females usually within 4 days of giving birth will feel ‘down’ and maybe tearful for a few days which is ‘normal’, and termed ‘The baby blue’s’. This is frequently attributed to the adjustment of hormone levels.
However, some women in the post natal period continue to be unhappy, emotional, anxious about her baby, feelings of the inability to cope, feeling inadequate and may even feel guilty, perceiving herself to be a poor mother with fear of responsibility to a new human life. Interrupted sleep, can cause tiredness and lethargy, then feels fatigued through the daytime. Balancing the needs of other children can be tiring and create more work.
Negative and poorly perceived thoughts create an increased depressive period that continues, for months and sometimes even for a year or more. Occasionally distancing from her partner or lack of communication needs to be addressed.
Brief clinical hypnotherapy via a cognitive approach allows the depressed female to think and feel differently, looking forward to her joys of family life and living.
Reporting in the American Journal of Psychiatry 2002, the researchers found that exposure to SSRIs during pregnancy was associated with a twofold increase in premature delivery and consequent lower birth weight. Furthermore, SSRI exposure during the last three months of pregnancy was associated with lower scores on physical health of a newborn infant.