Depression Information, News and Support
(HealthDay News) -- Black women are twice as likely to give birth prematurely as white women, and a greater likelihood of depression may play a role in that, a new study suggests.
Researchers looked at birth-rate data collected over six years from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study, which included health information from about 5,000 young adults living in four metropolitan areas.
Posted: Jun 16, 2009
(CNN) -- For the first 45 of her 50 years of living, Bonnie Neighbour used to wake up feeling sorry to be alive. Bonnie Neighbour has struggled with mental health issues for almost all of her 50 years.
"Even when I wasn't actually depressed, I would open my eyes in the morning and wonder if there wasn't something else; I would have preferred an alternative to being alive," she says.
She recalls being depressed as a young child. In her late teens, she started having mood problems that eventually escalated into clinical depression.
"At some point, I was suicidal. I would suffer cycles of depression and mania," Neighbour said. "I wouldn't sleep for days, and the less sleep I would get, the more revved up I'd become, and then I would make irrational decisions and act out. Then I'd alternate with serious depressive episodes.
Posted: May 08, 2009
A new study published in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry suggests that a simple blood test can predict whether a woman is likely to develop postpartum depression (PPD).
Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, analyzed blood samples from 100 pregnant women during weeks 15, 19, 25, 31, and 37 of their pregnancies, and tested the levels of a hormone, placental corticotropin-releasing hormone (pCRH), found in the placenta. The women were also screened for depression during the last four visits, and then again postpartum. Sixteen of the 100 women in the study developed postpartum depression symptoms. In those sixteen women, the level of pCRH found at week 25 of the pregnancy was high.
Read onPosted: Mar 10, 2009
Postpartum depression is the cruelest form of depression, coming when it does. Your most joyful time becomes your most torturous. After I had my son, I was certainly sleep deprived, but my overwhelming emotion was wonder and absolute content. My parents told me that I was a natural mother. Certainly taking care of my son came much more easily than I had expected, and I had less self-doubt than I had anticipated.
Of course, with my history of depression, I went back on antidepressants right away (I decided not to breastfeed, since I also had to immediately start taking the medication for my Multiple Sclerosis again). I didn't want to lose one minute of my time with my son to depression, and I knew that a mother's depression could affect her infant. Luckily, I didn't have one moment of postpartum depression. I didn't even suffer from the "baby blues," a milder form of postpartum depression, that usually starts a few days after the birth. The baby blues generally lasts less than 2 weeks, and is thought to be caused by the hormonal change and loss of endorphins after the birth.
Postpartum depression is different from the baby blues that occurs after about 75% of births. The baby blues is a mild form of depression, often with severe mood swings, that usually starts a few days after the birth. The baby blues generally lasts less than 2 weeks, and is thought to be caused by the hormonal change and loss of endorphins after the birth.
Postpartum depression, which occurs in 10-15% of births is often mistaken for the baby blues, but it is much more severe and longer in duration. It usually starts within 6 to 8 weeks after the birth, although it can begin up to a year afterwards. Factors that are thought to contribute to or cause it are:
Symptoms are:
Some women with postpartum depression will also have postpartum psychosis, as in the case of Andrea Yates, but it is rare (1 in 1,000). If, however, you have any of the symptoms below, you must seek medical attention immediately.
There are a few factors that make it difficult for a woman and her family to recognize postpartum depression and get treatment. A woman who suspects that she might have postpartum depression often has trouble overcoming the sense of shame that her "failure" will engender. Woman are used to taking care of others and putting themselves last. Women with postpartum depression have to deal with not only the numbing paralysis of depression, but also the feeling that she should be a superwoman and not indulge herself by seeking help.
In addition, postpartum depression is underdiagnosed and underpublicized compared to other forms of depression. The American medical community has been slow to recognize it, and it was not added to the DSM, the official bible of psychiatry, until 1994. Because of this, women and their families must often be persistent about getting treatment in the face of skepticism from medical professionals who insist that a woman's postpartum depression is just the baby blues or difficulty adjusting to the new situation. It is imperative for a woman who thinks she has postpartum depression to get treatment. Depression is very likely to interfere with the bonding of mother and child.
If a woman is diagnosed with postpartum depression, she has several ways to attack it in addition to medical treatment. Antidepressants are generally recommended as part of treatment, as they are the most effective form of treatment. Tricyclic antidepressants are thought to be the safest if the mother is breastfeeding.
Support groups with other mothers are extremely helpful. It is a relief for the mother to know that she is not alone. She can let go of the myth of the bliss of a new baby, and find out that she is not the only one with a messy house, a baby who seems to cry all the time, and a wardrobe that now seems to consist of only sweatpants and sweatshirts. Women in support groups can also share coping strategies.
Estrogen therapy is also used in the treatment of postpartum depression. A British study reported that women using an estrogen patch showed greater and more rapid relief than women using a placebo patch.
Therapy for the mother and her partner can be extremely helpful, especially if her depression has been of a long duration. The new father is often feeling overwhelmed about being a parent, and is trying to deal with the complexities of having a partner with depression.
A new mother who is suffering from postpartum depression should also try to fit time in to exercise, as it releases endorphins that lift the mood as well as making her feel better about her post-pregancy body. Along those lines, it is very important for her to find time for herself, to go see a movie, get together with a friend, or have a pedicure. Along those lines, it's important not to feel that asking for help from family and friends means you can't cope with being a mother. Your wellbeing is essential for you, your partner and your baby.
If you're a new mother with postpartum depression, take comfort in the fact that you're not alone, and there is treatment that can bring you and your life back to normal. You will be able to enjoy this new life and your baby, and regain the closeness you had with your partner.
Posted: Feb 14, 2009
Women suffer from unipolar (as opposed to bipolar or manic) depression in greater numbers than men do; twice as much by most estimates.
The reason or reasons why women have unipolar depression more frequently than men is less definite, due to a great extent to the fact that we don't fully understand what causes depression, whether in men or women. Depression is a highly individual disease. Each case is different. One person's depression may be wholly chemical, while someone else's is brought on by events and stressful factors in her life. Yet another person may suffer depression due to a combination of chemical and environmental factors.
Several theories have been brought forward to explain the greater frequency of depression in women. At this point it is difficult to either completely discount any of them or to point to one and say, "That's it!". There is no question that women have to deal with a greater number of risks to their physical and emotional well-being than men. We have yet to learn to what extent each of these plays a role in depression in women. Until then, it is wise to be aware of these potential risks, in the same way we are aware of risk factors for heart disease or high blood pressure.
Women experience several major biological changes in their lives; onset of menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum and menopause. We also go through a hormonal metamorphosis every month. It's likely, although not proven scientifically, that hormonal changes play a part in depression in women.
Girls entering puberty are twice as prone to depression as boys, and it is possible that this is due, at least in part, to the hormonal changes brought on by the onset of menstruation. However, there is a strong argument to be made that this is a time at which they are vulnerable to internal and external conflicts and pressures which would be more likely to contribute to depression than changing hormones.
Despite the image many people have of a pregnant women being emotional and prone to crying jags, pregnancy depression is rare, even among women who have suffered bouts of depression before becoming pregnant. Postpartum depression (different from the "baby blues"), however, affects as many as one in four first-time mothers in one form or another. Interestingly, menopause, which many people assume is a time of potential depression for women, does not seem to put them at a greater risk for depression than men of the same age.
The question of whether premenstrual syndrome leaves women more open to depression, or is in itself a form of depression, is a subject of much debate, and no easy answers. Any woman who has had a man say to her, "You have PMS, don't you?" in the middle of an argument can understand why some women are reluctant to have PMS and depression mentioned in the same sentence. However, completely discounting the possibility of a link between the two could do women on the whole a disservice. At this point, the understanding of the causes of depression in women is too uncertain to rule anything out. Certainly PMS and depression share some characteristics: irritability, appetite change, listlessness, crying jags. However, one thing to bear in mind is that when some women think they are suffering from PMS, they may actually be going through depression. When what a woman thinks of as PMS starts taking over a good part of each month, she should talk to a doctor about the possibility that she is actually experiencing depression. Before I was diagnosed with depression, I just assumed I had very bad (and lengthy) PMS.
Women (and girls) are much more likely than men to be raped and physically or sexually abused. These experiences factor into many cases of depression. Low self-esteem, feelings of helplessness and self-blame are by-products of any form of abuse, and these can either cause or exacerbate depression. A woman who is the victim of any type of abuse should consider herself at risk for depression. I had my first bout of major depression a few months after my first rape.
Studies have shown that because of social conditioning, women have a lower sense of their own self-worth and competence than men do. This is often reinforced in the workplace in the form of lower pay and discrimination in hiring and promotion. Add to this the fact that women still do most of the housework and child-rearing, and you have not only problems with self-image, but also multiple stresses. It is possible that these are both factors in greater prevalence of depression in women.
When it comes to whether or not depression is present during pregnancy, women's experiences run the gamut. Some women who have had lifelong depression find that it eases off during pregnancy, and they have no need of their medication. However, some women who have never experienced depression find that they are vulnerable to it for the first time when they become pregnant.
Posted: Feb 08, 2009
This work by Wing of Madness Inc. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.