Postpartum Depression
Postpartum depression is a depression that develops, especially among nursing mothers, immediately after giving birth. It often involves the physical and behavioral changes that happen to a woman after giving birth. The condition is characterized by stress, irritation, loss of appetite, and difficulty bonding with the baby by the mother. This is a condition that is familiar and can affect even the father. However, the disease is treatable with several measures that are put in place. The state is ranged in the category according to the spectrum of severity. It differs from the blue babies, followed by major postpartum depression and then postpartum psychosis.
Evidence from several documents has shown that these behavioral and physical changes have adverse effects not only on the mother but even on the baby also. The condition may go unaware, especially if the mother does not know that there exists such a thing as postpartum depression. Women may have such developments due to various reasons, for example, getting worried over how they would take care of the baby. In some cases, the symptoms may even begin to appear even before the baby is born, and manifest after the baby has been born. This paper aims to conduct and give an analysis of postpartum depression based on research, and to recommend ways of coping with it.
Literature Review
Postpartum depression has been linked with social, chemical, and physiological changes that take place within the mother of a newborn. It is used to describe a wide variety of physical and emotional changes that the mother experiences with the new responsibility (Polachek, Harari, Baum & Strous, 2014). There are three levels, mainly the baby blues, postpartum major, and postpartum psychosis. These are the three levels that are based on the severity of the condition.
The baby blue is the first stage and is the mildest. Often it occurs a few days to the delivery of the bay, about two to three weeks. It is common in about 30% to 80 % of all mothers who just had new bones (Guardino, & Dunkel, 2014). The mother may, for example, start feeling that they cannot handle the situation even if they had been prepared for it. The stage is characterized by anxiety, insomnia, tiredness, moodiness, and sadness. They may occasionally cry because helplessly, without any particular reason, have trouble sleeping and even eating. These symptoms all together contribute to the state of the mother, feeling that she cannot handle the situation. The good thing about the blue baby stage is that it usually is short-lived, often the few weeks before delivery.
The second level of postpartum depression is the postpartum major. This is the episode in which the real despair sets in. It usually develops about four weeks after delivery and is common in about 10% of the women who give birth (Guardino, & Dunkel, 2014)). The symptoms that are common among the women in this category would include a depressed mood, loss of interest, and change in weight or appetite. Hypersomnia may also set in as a result of the advancement of insomnia in the first stage. There may also be characteristics of psychomotor retardation, loss of energy, guilt, problems with concentration, difficulty in decision making, and the feeling of inadequacy. As it is evident in the first stage, the mother may feel that she is not ready or cannot handle the bay. This is what will cause guilt and aa feeling of worthlessness.
The third stage of postpartum depression is postpartum psychosis. It develops within the first two weeks after childbirth. In most cases, the condition is preceded by confusion, irritability, agitation, memory problems, and the worsening of insomnia. Hallucinations and delusions characterize it. The mother may also have intrusive thoughts, which may make her show disinterest to the baby. There is an alternating series of elevated mood, which is quickly followed by profound sadness. The mother may also show clarity, which does not indicate that she is getting any better. This stage is most common among women with bipolar illness.
Postpartum depression does not only occur to the women but also the men. This is because of the recent changes where men have been taking an active role in taking care of their babies by helping their partners. Those whose wives suffer from postpartum depression are most likely to also go through this. Economic problems may contribute to it, non-standard family, lack of support from other people, poor social functioning, relationship stress, poor relationship with the wife, and the sense of exclusion due to the connection between the mother and the baby. The men, therefore, end up getting sad, moody, and full of anxiety. The father may also feel angry and out of control, especially after the bay has been born.
The causes of all the symptoms that have been mentioned above trace its origin back to hormonal changes. During pregnancy, the level of hormones estrogen and progesterone are maintained at high levels. Within the first twenty-four hours of childbirth, the levels of this hormone drop significantly. Other hormones that may fall may also include the thyroid hormones which are responsible for energy regulation. These drops bring about the moodiness, which triggers all the other systems. With time it develops and graduates to depression, which is then termed as postpartum depression.
Material and Method
The methods of data collection that were used in this research mainly included consulting secondary data. This included research papers that have been done in the previous years, touching on different topics on post-partum depression. One of it is the journal of obstetrics and gynecology and the united states national library of medicine, under the national institute of health. In the first research, 2279 pregnant women, of thirty-two to forty-two weeks of pregnancy, of about 12 works postpartum were screened for depression. Those women who were free from depression were given questionnaires. The research was done in health care centers within Mazandaran province. The analysis of the data followed a logistic regression analysis that determined the risk factors of postpartum depression. The second research mainly conducted literature research on PubMed and Psych INFO databases (Mehta & Mehta, 2014).
Results
Of all the 2279 women, 1801 screened negative for depression. The cumulative incidence proportion was 6.7%, 4.3%, and 4.5% during the 0-2 week. 2-8 weeks and 8-12 weeks, respectively. There was a 95%, 2.55 interval for those who had a history of depression during the first trimesters. Psychiatric disorder during pregnancy (OR = 1.08, 95%CI = 1.06–1.11); gestational diabetes (OR = 2.93, 95%CI = 1.46–5.88); recurrent urinary infection (OR = 2.25, 95%CI = 1.44–3.52); unwanted pregnancy (OR = 2.5, 95%CI = 1.69–3.7) and low household income (OR = 3.57, 95%CI = 1.49–8.5). The risk was decreased with increasing age (OR = 0.88, 95%CI = 0.84–0.92) and those with high self‐efficacy for mothering (OR = 0.7, 95%CI = 0.62–0.78) (Abdollahi, Zarghami, Azhar, Sazlina, & Lye, 2014).
The second results, under demographic factors, it was precise that those who suffered from PPD mostly were a mother after giving birth and those of older age. Clinical factors indicated that parity is associated with PPD I that, those women who had more than five children were most likely to suffer from this depression (Mehta & Mehta, 2014). Psychological factors indicated that those with postnatal depression lived in conflicting and mixed cultures. The marriage contributors may include psychiatric illness in the husband, alcoholism, and poor education status. Other included the health factors of the child and dissatisfaction that comes from having a non-priority gender.
Discussion
From the first research, it is evident that the postpartum depression begins as early as when the second to the twelfth week before delivery, during gestation. The history of depression can also be a cause that can trigger these developments. In the results section, the results showed a 95% confidence interval, which is very high on a scale of 2.2. Other findings included the psychiatric disorders which occurred during the pregnancy. This may have been due to other problems like the identified diabetes. The unwanted pregnancies and the low income also tested on a large scale, just indicating how they are contributing factors to the postpartum depression.
The second result majored in several literature factors. The demographic factors indicated that it was common among women, especially the older women giving birth. This may explain the reason why some may feel that they cannot handle it. It complements the clinic findings in that those who have more than five children often have a problem getting a new one, since they may not be sure how they are going to handle the baby. Marital status, like the condition of the spouse, also affects, especially in the cases that they are not in a position to support the family. It may trigger the mother not to like the baby and start feeling like the baby is a burden. Some of the cultural norms or the expectations also contribute to these incidences by making them feel unwanted due to things like the gender of the baby.
The solution to Better Cope with Postpartum Depression
Treatment and ways of coping with it will depend on the level of the depression. For the blue baby stage, it is advisable that the mother gets enough rest and receives assistance from family and friends. They can also connect with other mothers with babies and avoid drugs and alcohol. The mother may also seek physiotherapy in which she may talk to a psychologist, especially for the case of significant and psychosis depression. This way, she will be able to find ways of coping with the feelings, the emotions, and the changes. Another way to deal may include the use of antidepressants. When the symptoms do not respond to medication, electroconvulsive therapy can be applied, which triggers a brief seizure in the brain. Physical exercise is also recommended, among other activities that may potentially distract the mother from thinking about nursing problems and difficulties.
Conclusion
In conclusion, postpartum depression is a condition that should be taken with seriousness. This is because it does affect not only the mother but also the father and the bay. It may even result in higher health conditions, which may be difficult to breathe. This research has shown how important it is for the mother to be taken care of, especially during her gestation period. The effort is to reduce the chances of depression by all means, including preparing her for things like the sudden hormonal drop during pregnancy.
References
Abdollahi, F., Zarghami, M., Azhar, M. Z., Sazlina, S. G., & Lye, M. S. (2014). Predictors and incidence of post‐partum depression: A longitudinal cohort study. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research, 40(12), 2191-2200.
Guardino, C. M., & Dunkel S. C. (2014). Coping during pregnancy: a systematic review and recommendations. Health psychology review, 8(1), 70-94.
Mehta, S., & Mehta, N. (2014). An Overview of Risk Factors Associated to Post-partum Depression in Asia. Mental illness, 6(1), 5370. doi:10.4081/mi.2014.5370
Polachek, I. S., Harari, L. H., Baum, M., & Strous, R. D. (2014). Postpartum anxiety in a cohort of women from the general population: risk factors and association with depression during the last week of pregnancy, postpartum depression, and postpartum PTSD. The Israel journal of psychiatry and related sciences, 51(2), 128.