More women may suffer from depression during pregnancy

Expectant mothers are more likely than women of their mother's generation to become depressed during pregnancy, suggests a study.

The tensions of the modern world could be at the origin of this increase, says Rebecca Pearson, lead author of the study. , lecturer in psychiatric epidemiology at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom.

"Our data suggest that the symptoms responsible for the increase in total scores were those related to feelings of overflow and stress and anxiety rather than the feeling of being depressed and unmotivated" said Pearson. "This supports the theories that this is potentially a consequence of the hectic modern world."

While postpartum depression is a well-known problem, in the last decade there has been a paradigm shift to recognize that symptoms usually appear before the baby is born, said Dr. Priya Gopalan, head of Psychiatry at the Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

"What we traditionally call postpartum depression begins in the third trimester," says Gopalan. with the new search. "The paradigm shift has eliminated all the myths that perpetuate pregnancy is a happy time for all moms."

As reported in JAMA Network Open, the Pearson team compared 2,390 women who had babies in the early 1990s to 180 next generation women who were either girls in the original group or partners of the sons of the original group. The average age in both groups of women was about 22 or 23 years old.

Among the older generation, 408 or 17% had high scores on depression screening tests, compared to 45 or 25% of the current generation.

Girls of women who became depressed during pregnancy had a particularly high risk of developing prenatal depression themselves. In fact, they were three times more likely to develop prenatal depression than women whose mothers did not become depressed during pregnancy.

The factors that Pearson suspects lead to higher rates of depression among younger generations: the pressures on young women to juggle with families and careers, social media and the Internet, which can increase social comparisons and the overabundance of information, financial pressures, including house prices and the need for joint income. and community support and increased pressure on relationships with intimate partners. "

Do findings about British women apply to American women?" Absolutely, "said Gopalan." We have certainly seen increased rates of depression over time.

Gopalan and other experts now recommend that women who develop depression during pregnancy receive treatment, including medications if necessary, to protect both women's and their babies' health.

"We have a lot of studies that have been published over the past three years comparing depressed mothers who were not receiving treatment to those who were depressed but were receiving treatment," Gopalan said. "We now know that depressed mothers who take drugs have babies who do better in terms of development.Depressed moms (without treatment) do not bond with their babies like non-depressed moms."

Like Pearson, Inger Burnett-Zeigler believes that many depressive symptoms in young women are motivated by anxiety

. "They are worried about the expectations surrounding motherhood and balance that with their other obligations," Burnett-Zeigler said. Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago. "Many of them feel overwhelmed and worried about who will help them. They worry about whether the baby will be fine and if they will behave like moms. "

Another factor is that people do not live as close to their families as they have," says Burnett-Zeigler, "Many are not surrounded by families to support them." she said. "Even if they have partners, they still feel isolated."