![depression-during-pregnancy]](https://womenexclusive.in/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/depression-during-pregnancy.jpg "Depression during pregnancy is defined as a period of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)")
Depression during pregnancy is defined as a period of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) occurring either during pregnancy or within the first 6 months postpartum, and is most common problems with occurrence of 10% to 15% in women of childbearing age. Depression is classified as a mood disorder. It may be described as feelings of sadness, loss, or anger that interfere with a person’s everyday activities. Legg (2020) Mild mood and anxiety symptoms may be common during pregnancy. In the early period of pregnancy mild mood symptoms last approximately 2 weeks or less and are often called the “baby blues”; these symptoms usually resolve naturally but that’s not the case for the pregnant women in the community of Pudupet and Chintadripet in Egmore.
4Pregnant women in Egmore community experience depression in many ways like abuse from work place, more work for less pay, loss of work due to pregnancy, which may constrain their income and unable to run the family. Thinking about the child’s future and education, domestic violence like verbal abuse, sexual abuse and in physical abuse by the alcoholic intimate partner who mainly target the abdomen of the pregnant women. All this led them psychologically to severe depression.
More pregnant women are getting depressed than men in the community which also have led to suicide. Alcoholism is also the reason for this, for mostly the men in this community are addicted to alcohol and drugs like ganja. In this depressive disorder the pregnant women experience depressed mood, loss of interest and enjoyment, anxiety, disturbed sleep and no proper appetite, feeling of guilt or low self-worth, poor concentration on health and hygiene.
Depending upon the number of severity of depressive episode can be categorized as mild, moderate and severe. A pregnant women with mild depressive disorder will have some difficulties in continuing with ordinary work and shows less interest in the social activities. While the pregnant women with the severe depressive disorder are unlikely to continue with social and work or domestic activities. They are lost in their own life.
The symptoms of maternal depression can lead to poor childbirth which resulted in low birth weight and birth of a malnutrition child. All this is due to no proper intake of nutrition food and supplements like iron and folic, by the mother during pregnancy. During maternal depression they give birth to infant with higher cortisol level (stress hormone) than infants of mothers who are not depressed and this continues through adolescence. Thus maternal depression should be treated during pregnancy which appears to help normalize infant cortisol level.
Maternal depression with mild to moderate depression can be treated with multiple psychotherapeutic techniques, like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) and group therapy. Women with more severe symptoms of maternal depression, combination treatment approach consisting of psychotherapy and medication may be the best option. 5Thus maternal depression is considered to be a serious medical condition that can get worse without proper treatment and care. Those who seek treatment often see improvement in symptoms in just few weeks.
However, it’s the role of the social workers and the healthcare providers to increase public awareness about maternal depression and to determine what’s causing them depression and how best to counsel the pregnant women about the risk of untreated major depressive disorder (MDD) and to give them counselling accordingly.
