Descriptive Exploratory Study

This article talked about dealing with women’s postpartum depression (PPD) in a spiritual way. Similar to Borra, C., Iacovou, M., & Sevilla, A’s article, the author also mentioned that the fluctuation of hormonal or chemical levels in women can be triggered by circumstances which include socioeconomic status, prior mental health history and their childbirth experiences such as if the mother had the experience of a traumatic delivery, preterm labor or difficulty in feeding. These factors not only influence on the well-being of the mother but also impact on the families, marriage and the lifelong health development of the child and their siblings.

There was a case-controlled study that was performed using data from the pregnancy registry in Quebec. It showed the some doctors prescribed the woman the antidepressants to help with their depression and moods. There was one woman whom had a psychiatric disorder before the study took place. The antidepressant exposure was shown according to the months of the trimesters of use and what type of antidepressant they took. The infants born small for gestational age cases showed that the infants with a birth weight less to the tenth percentile following the Canadian charts. There were also, the relative risk took into factor. They were changed and shifted due to possible confounders.

When pregnant especially for the first time many women inform themselves on things they can do that are beneficial for the growth and development of their baby and things they should avoid or not do since it can be dangerous for their baby such as smoking, drinking alcohol, and especially being under stress during the first months. As we all know, being pregnant has a high percentage for a women to develop depression and anxiety, this may be due to some hormonal changes that every pregnant women suffers. It’s important to note that only a psychologist or a psychiatrist can diagnose if a pregnant women is suffering from depression due to certain criteria such as when the depressing feeling last more than two weeks, make it hard for the women to accomplish her activities during a normal day, and many other symptoms that affect directly the daily life of a pregnant women. However, most women are warned that being stressed can have serious consequences for the growth and development of their unborn children.

The barrier that is being constructed between the differing sides of the abortion movement based mainly on misconceptions of the community and action. These false accusations are then being thrown back into the faces of women, thus proclaiming they should not be able to make such rash choices. If society were to take time and examine the facts and statistics they could see that women need to be given the choice in the matter, for it is their body. Once again, the idea that mental issues are increased by abortion is brought up. As discussed before, the only increase of mental health issues, was in women who were denied the procedure of abortion. Unlike many ideas that abortions causes mental unwellness (Belluck). This common misconception must

This journal article provides an overview of understanding the needs of women with postnatal depression. The author states the importance of early detection of postnatal depression. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence recommends to assess the pregnant women during their first contact with healthcare professionals in primary care services and should be assessed again in the postnatal period, at around four to six weeks and at three to four months. The article also mentions the healthcare professionals should be able to differentiate between mild and severe forms of the condition and between clinical depression and normal adjustments to the change. Healthcare professionals need to remain alert to the different signs of indicating

When a woman is pregnant it is extremely important that she is physically and emotionally healthy. Depression is a common psychiatric disorder among many people. Depression tends to have a social stigma attached to it, so many people tend to ignore the symptoms. It is important to get help if one is suffering from it. It affects about 1 in 8 women during their pregnancy. If a woman is pregnant and is suffering from depression it is extremely important that she gets help, because it can affect her baby. Therefore it is important to know what medications are available to help with depression. It is also important to know the side effects of the medications, because they could affect the fetus in the womb. There are a handful of

In this article, “Controlled Trial of the Short- and Long-Term Effect of Psychological Treatment of Postpartum Depression” states short term of postpartum care is necessary. Postpartum can be beneficial in both short term but their long term with unknown. To evaluate the long-term effect on maternal emotion of three psychological treatments in relation to everyday care. Women with postpartum depression were assigned randomly to one of four condition: everyday care, none direct counselling, congnitive- behavioural therapy or psychodynamic therapy. As a result, postpartum depression in the psychological intervention in the short term to improve the mother mood (EPDS). However, this benefit is not superior to long-term spontaneous relief (Peter

Results showed that the drugs most frequently used were the SSRIs escitalopram, sertraline, and paroxetine, along with the SNRI venlafaxine and the anticonvulsant sodium valproate, along with twenty-one other drugs. The most common diagnoses were major depressive disorder, followed by anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, epilepsy with a psychiatric diagnosis, and others. 81% of those studied were exposed to drugs during their first trimester, with 11% continuing use of drugs through all three trimesters. Interestingly, the rates of elective abortion were higher in the exposed group. This disparity may reflect the perception of psychotropic drug use during pregnancy as being unsafe for the fetus. Two pregnancies in the drug exposure group resulted in major congenital defects, compared to three in the control cohort. No significant differences were found between groups in regards to birth defects, rates of miscarriage, or preterm births.

Depression is a treatable condition, and there are treatment standards in place for pregnant women(Choate & Gintner, 2011). Currently, the treatment of antenatal depression consists of prescription medication and psychotherapy (Yonkers, Vigod, & Ross, 2011), and “alternative” treatments including vitamin or herbal supplements, acupuncture, exercise, or massage therapy (Deligiannidis & Freeman, 2013). Treating antenatal depression often poses a dilemma for both the specialist and the patient. For the specialist, the risk of prescribing medication has to equate with the risk of any potential iatrogenic harm to the fetus (Ververs, van Dijk, Yousofi, Schobben, & Visser, 2009). While there are guidelines in place for the prescribing of medications to a pregnant patient (Howland, 2009), not many obstetrical specialists feel confident in their own ability to treat a psychiatric illness (Hill, Greenberg, Holzman, & Schulkin, 2001).

The questions/statements on the questionnaire were tested for validity, reliability, and readability and comprehension. Validity was examined by a panel of experts, reliability was tested by providing the questionnaires to a subsample and providing the questionnaire again to the same group after a 1 week period. Readability and comprehension were tested with other students representative of the sample used for the study.

Postpartum depression has been a medical diagnosis in recent history. Though, postpartum depression has been a problem since the 18th century. Medicine has come long way in discovering treatment for postpartum depression, but the risks are still under investigation. Screening women for postpartum depression after delivery has been a trend in many hospitals, but what puts them at risk is important. There are many factors, but Zadeh, Khajehei, Sharif, & Hadzic’s (2012) study looked at high risk pregnancy inparticular.

Antenatal or antepartum depression accounts for “around 13% (of pregnancies)” (Leigh, B. & Milgrom, J., 2008). Although the prevalence of depression during pregnancy is fairly high, it is often underreported, not reported, and oft left under or untreated. These expectant mothers frequently do not receive the care and treatment they so desperately need. A better understanding of the causes and outcomes of these particular patients is needed to ensure they get the help they need. The consequences of not receiving care are “far-reaching, affecting not only the mother but her infant, and their relationships” (Leigh & Milgrom, 2008).

Depression is more common in women than in men across all age groups and cultural backgrounds with a female to male ratio of 1.68 (Kessler et al. 1993). Women are at their greatest risk of suffering from depression during the childbearing years. Currently, up to 20% of the pregnant women population are prescribed an antidepressant during pregnancy (Pawluski JL), and others may become pregnant while on one. According to Mourilhe and Stokes (1998), only one in 20 depressed patients are diagnosed and adequately treated. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medications are the most common antidepressant treatment used during pregnancy and the postpartum period (Pawluski JL). It is important to treat depression in an expecting mother as studies show a negative effect of depression on pregnancy outcomes (Steer et al. 1992), maternal infant bonding (Condon and Corkindale 1997), cognitive development in children (Cogill et al. 1986), and subsequent recurrences of depression, resulting in problems for the child (Philipps and O’Hara, 1991). Because of the potential for maternal depression in pregnancy to cause negative impacts on both the mother and offspring, treatment (for the depression?) is highly recommended (Morrison, Riggs, & Rurak 2005). As such, fluoxetine is a frequently prescribed SSRI to pregnant women [need?] as it increases serotonin neurotransmission and has fewer side effects compared to other antidepressants (Morrison JL1, Riggs KW, Rurak DW).

This article discusses the increase uses of drugs pregnant women consume, although, the author started off with how a thalidomide disaster of the early 1960s where thousands of babies were born with deformed limbs due to mother’s taking a prescribed sleeping pill at the time of pregnancy that was thought to be safe. Despite the fact it is over 30 years and the use of a prescription drug during pregnancy has increase by more than 60 percent. The contributing factors to the increase uses of drugs among pregnant women are pre-exiting condition such as anxiety disorders, depression, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. If a women decided to become pregnant it is advisable to focus on getting healthy, such as

Provides a means of collecting data by observing peoples behavior and qualitatively or quantitatively analyze the observations.