Perinatal Depression: Causes, Symptoms And Tips To Overcome It
Pregnancy is a period marked by illusions, but also by suffering. Some mothers experience, shortly before or after giving birth, what is known as perinatal depression (PND).
This form of depression, which can be especially tragic for both her and her child, is a peculiar manifestation that requires a different treatment from major depression, as it has its own characteristics. We explain the keys to understanding it and review the most effective treatments.
For some time now, psychologists have expanded the definition of what was previously labeled depression with onset in the postpartum.
We know that depression can begin a few months before childbirth and that it is the same phenomenon that will haunt the mother’s mood for the year after giving birth.
Clinical description
Perinatal depression includes any minor or major depressive episode that occurs during pregnancy or within 12 months after childbirth. There is a certain degree of uncertainty regarding the incidence of the disorder. Various studies agree on prevalence rates that range between 10-15%. However, when excluding studies where the diagnosis is based only on self-reports, rates of 6.5% to 12.9% are reached. This is a global phenomenon, not exclusive to Western society.
Symptoms
Mothers who suffer from it feel extremely guilty, some even hate their child. They feel alone and overwhelmed, they need help and don’t know how to ask for it. They are filled with ruminative thoughts, sticky beliefs that are very difficult for them to get rid of and that seriously hinder their life.
Women with perinatal depression are in a period of role transition, from women to mothers, which is difficult to assume. Likewise, difficulties in communicating with your partner can further aggravate the feeling of being completely alone.
The severity of the disorder is not limited to how disabling it can be for the person who suffers from it. Maternal perinatal depression is related to a higher incidence of excessive crying in the child, colic, sleep problems, temperament difficulties, worse self-regulation and more indicators of stress. It is also associated with negative mother-child interactions, including detachment, withdrawal, intrusion and hostility as well as poorer infant interpersonal functioning, insecure attachment and high rates of behavioral and emotional problems.
The main risk factor for perinatal depression is inadequate social support. The danger is increased by different deficiencies in social support such as:
Treatment and advice
A very common characteristic of perinatal depression is that mothers feel ashamed of suffering from depression, so much so that they do not ask for help. For this, It is especially important to normalize perinatal depression.
Anyone can suffer from emotional distress, especially during a period as difficult as pregnancy and the enormous change it entails in family life. The arrival of a little one always marks a before and after.
1. Psychoeducation and activation
The first stone in overcoming perinatal depression is laid when the mother understands what is happening to her and why it is happening. Once this is done, she can begin to plan a whole series of activities that will get her going and make her feel useful again.
One of the main concerns of mothers with perinatal depression is not measuring up and being a “bad mother.”. The truth is that no mother learns by magic, and some people may find it harder than others. In addition to attacking these thoughts, it will be vitally important for mothers to learn to feel comfortable interacting with their baby.
A good way to achieve this can be to attend workshops that teach you how to play with your baby, how to handle difficult situations (incessant crying, tantrums, etc.) or problems at mealtime. Support groups can be of great help when proposing alternative behaviors that promote an optimal relationship with the baby.
3. Working on the social support network and communication
Because perinatal depression is a markedly social disorder, it is vital to identify communication patterns that are not working. It will be necessary for both the mother and the father to learn to relate and communicate what they think in a clear way and without accusations. If we achieve this we will achieve two things: the mother can ask for and receive help, and she will stop feeling completely alone and overwhelmed.
Support groups are a very important network in this regard. Being able to talk to other mothers who are going through the same process, share your own experiences and receive advice from other women will make you feel supported and better prepared to face motherhood.
4. Role transitions
Motherhood is difficult to incorporate. The change in role can mean the loss of personal meaning, going from a working woman to simply a mother.
It will be very important to recover those activities that were part of the mother’s identity. Identify those reinforcers that existed before the baby, such as the feeling of doing a good job or enjoying an afternoon with friends, as well as find opportunities within the new routine to be able to incorporate them again.
Likewise, there may be a conflict between long-term goals (for example, between family and work). Sometimes it will be necessary to rethink the goals and restructure them to make them as harmonious as they are realistic.
5. Attacking maladaptive thoughts
As with any emotional disorder, We are going to have to work through cognitive techniques on the thoughts that instead of helping anchor people at the bottom of depression.
Mothers must learn to identify in which situations they appear and acquire strategies to anticipate them or know how to neutralize them when they appear with thoughts that are more adaptive and adjusted to reality.
Furthermore, it is especially important to acquire the habit of thinking about problems only if it is to solve them. It is very easy to get stuck in the emotional discomfort caused by worries, but the only way to get out of this quicksand is to distance yourself and remind yourself that when faced with a problem there is no other way out than to find a solution.
