According to a new study from Kaiser Permanente, more than one in seven women are depressed in the nine months before pregnancy, during their pregnancy, or in the nine months after giving birth. Highlights from an article on the study on WebMD:
The new research expands on information already known about depression after childbirth. "People have known for quite a while that postpartum depression is a serious, sometimes devastating event," says researcher Evelyn Whitlock, MD, MPH, senior investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. "One of the things we were able to do is look across the spectrum — nine months before pregnancy, the nine months of pregnancy, and the nine months postpartum. I think this is the first study to do that" …
The study, with an accompanying editorial urging more research, is published in the October issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
Whitlock and her colleagues evaluated 4,398 women, all members of the Kaiser Permanente HMO, who had given birth between 1998 and 2001.
Before pregnancy, 8.7% were identified as depressed by their health care providers; 6.9% were classified as depressed during the pregnancy, and 10.4% were depressed in the nine months after delivery. In all, 15.4%, or more than one in seven of the women, were depressed during at least one of the three periods.
About half of the women who had postpartum depression also were depressed before the pregnancy occurred or during pregnancy. More than half of those depressed before pregnancy became depressed during the pregnancy, suggesting the condition is not temporary or relieved by getting pregnant or by giving birth.
Whitlock also found that 93.4% of those with pregnancy-related depression had seen a mental health provider and/or gotten antidepressants. About 77% of women took an antidepressant before becoming pregnant, 67% during pregnancy, and 82% after giving birth. Since the study, reports of possible side effects of antidepressant use during pregnancy, including lung problems and heart problems in newborns, have been published. As a result, doctors emphasize that a careful evaluation of the risks and benefits is crucial before deciding on an antidepressant during pregnancy …
I suffered from anxiety attacks all through my pregnancy, prior to my struggle with PPD. Several years later while researching PPD I came across anxiety as one of the precursors of PPD. My provider knew I had been struggling with anxiety. I was felt let down when I realized someone (properly informed) may have been able to at least give me a heads up if not monitor me more carefully postpartum. It is so important for this information to be known an understood by pregnant women and their partners.
My OB/GYN started me on anti-depressants around 28 weeks for antenatal depression. Looking back now, I had been struggling for a long time before that, but didn't realize it at the time. Just figured it was part of the whole pregnancy hormones package.
I still suffered horrible PPD/PPP after my son was born. I shudder to think how much WORSE it COULD have been had I not already had a head start on Wellbutrin.