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Is it Wrong to Abort a Person?
Published in Christopher Kaczor, The Ethics of Abortion, 2023
There are of course scores of books published to help women deal with postpartum depression, but postpartum depression seems importantly different than mourning abortion. First, postpartum depression can hit in situations in which the child has been planned and wanted even prior to conception; but in elective abortion the human being in utero is not wanted. What this suggests is that postpartum depression is not per se about the child but rather is due to other factors such as changes in hormones and lack of social support. The sadness that sometimes follows abortion by contrast seems directly related to the choice to end the life of the human being in utero. Second, it is extremely uncommon for postpartum depression to continue years after the birth of the child, but grief over abortion can extend over decades. Most women celebrate the day of their child's birth year after year. By contrast, the day of the abortion is for many women a time of mourning, loss, and sadness year after year. President Barak Obama has spoken of “the middle aged feminist who still mourns her abortion” (Obama 2008, p. 51). Postabortion grief is simply not the same as postpartum depression.
Postpartum Care
Published in Vincenzo Berghella, Obstetric Evidence Based Guidelines, 2022
Elena R. Magro-Malosso, Sarah K. Dotters-Katz, Daniele Di Mascio
In addition to typical depression symptoms of sadness, despair, disrupted sleep and appetite, women with postpartum depression often experience prominent anxiety symptoms. The presentation of GAD during postpartum is similar to GAD symptoms outside of pregnancy.
Honoring the Process
Published in Nora Swan-Foster, Art Therapy and Childbearing Issues, 2020
Mary K. Kometiani, Katherine A. Holbrook
Families are especially vulnerable due to the overwhelming distress and demands; in addition, mothers who have recently given birth are even more at-risk due to the possibility of postpartum depression. The National Institute of Mental Health (n.d.) describes postpartum depression as a mood disorder for women after childbirth that results in extreme sadness and anxiety and affects one’s ability to provide care. Some common symptoms include hopelessness, bouts of crying, anxiety, moodiness, difficulty eating and sleeping, trouble with focusing, somatic symptoms, loss of interest in pleasurable events, and trouble bonding with baby (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). Postpartum depression can be treated, but its symptoms may be similar to both depression and normal adjustment to a new baby; hence, seeking a postpartum diagnosis from a healthcare provider is crucial (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.).
Preventing recurrence of postpartum depression by regulating sleep
Published in Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 2023
Verinder Sharma, Katherine M. Sharkey, Laura Palagini, Dwight Mazmanian, Michael Thomson
A recent study that critically appraised systematic reviews of interventions for postpartum depression concluded that antidepressants and telemedicine were the most effective preventative interventions based on reviews of the highest methodological quality [13]. However, authors of an earlier Cochrane review found that evidence supporting the effectiveness of antidepressants for the prevention of postpartum depression was inconclusive [14]. Given the conflicting information, it is essential to examine the reasons for discordant research findings and explore clinical opportunities for the effective prevention of postpartum depression and its common psychiatric comorbidities. In this review, we examine the potential sources of the clinical heterogeneity of postpartum depression and discuss how these factors may contribute to treatment challenges. We then review the extant pharmacological data on the prevention of major depression after delivery and propose a personalized approach based on a thorough understanding of the clinical course of the underlying mood disorder and past treatment response. Given that insufficient/disrupted sleep is a transdiagnostic symptom that is ubiquitous during and after pregnancy [15], we contend that the management of sleep loss/insomnia may be an effective strategy for the prevention of a major depressive episode in women with major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder. Finally, we outline knowledge gaps and offer suggestions for future research.
Subthreshold psychiatric symptoms as potential predictors of postpartum depression
Published in Health Care for Women International, 2022
Amelia Rizzo, Antonio Bruno, Giovanna Torre, Carmela Mento, Gianluca Pandolfo, Clemente Cedro, Antonio Simone Laganà, Roberta Granese, Rocco Antonio Zoccali, Maria Rosaria Anna Muscatello
However, reversing this perspective, this can also be considered a theoretical strength of the study. Results are relevant observations about the incidence of postpartum depression among women who appear healthy during pregnancy, and among women with a negative history of psychiatric disorders. While it is consolidated that women with already diagnosed traits of anxiety or depressive temperament are more likely to develop depression after the childbirth event, the role of subthreshold symptoms constitutes a novelty that deserves future studies and further comparisons between different clinical and control groups. Finally, although many authors have demonstrated a perinatal depressive syndrome even in fathers (Bruno et al., 2020; Mento et al., 2020), there are no studies on subthreshold symptoms among men.
Evaluation of salivary melatonin concentrations as a circadian phase maker of morning awakening and their association with depressive mood in postpartum mothers
Published in Chronobiology International, 2021
Naoko Kudo, Hitomi Shinohara, Satoko Kagabu, Hideya Kodama
Postpartum depression is a typical mood disorder following childbirth that affects roughly 15% of mothers (O’Hara and McCabe 2013; Pearlstein et al. 2009). Therefore, medical professionals often need to provide effective interventions that help vulnerable mothers transition through this stressful period (Werner et al. 2015). While the exact biological mechanisms of postpartum depression remain unclear, the primary cause may be attributable to a dramatic alteration in steroid and peptide hormones immediately after delivery, which affects the mothers’ neuroendocrine control system (Payne and Maguire 2019). Well-established risk factors include a prior history of depression, single marital status, chronic illness, alcohol use, stressful life events during pregnancy, and low socioeconomic status (Stewart and Vigod 2019). Furthermore, there has been accumulating evidence implicating an association of poor sleep quality with depression and anxiety in postpartum women (Lewis et al. 2018; Okun 2016). Although most of the risk factors mentioned above appear almost non-modifiable, some background lifestyle or behavior factors related to sleep disturbance could be modifiable so that interventions against these factors might be able to attenuate the risk among vulnerable mothers.