Depression Treatments During Pregnancy
Safe Depression Treatments During Pregnancy
Every woman wants to protect her unborn child while she is pregnant. She knows that she needs to take her prenatal vitamins and eat a balanced diet, avoid alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes. She also knows that she should be careful about what medications she takes for headache and the common cold. In fact she knows that the only medicine she should really be taking during her pregnancy is Tylenol. But what happens if the mother has depression before or during her pregnancy and how can it be treated safely? Well these are questions that many women ask themselves and their doctors. Due to the fact that depression can be very serious and it can affect the mother and fetus negatively. Depression is a mood disorder that affects how a person thinks or feels can cause excess anxiety as well as other problems to the mom and problems to the baby. But there is hope for pregnant women suffering from depression; in fact there are a number of safe depression treatments available to her doing her pregnancy. Some of these include but are not limited to antidepressants,alternative medicines such as herbal remedies or vitamin supplements and psychotherapy .
How Depression Treatment Work and the Benefits
Most women and some doctors are skeptical when it comes to pregnant women taking antidepressants. But the truth is that although there are risks associated with taking these medications for some the benefits may outweigh the risk. In fact some antidepressants have been proven safe to take while pregnant. Antidepressants work by reducing or eliminating the mothers’ symptoms of depression. This reduces the mother level of anxiety and allows the mother to take better care of herself. Also studies have shown that mothers who are depressed during there pregnancy may have their baby prematurely and the baby may have more stress hormones than normal. Also the mother may turn to drug and alcohol to try and eliminate her feelings of depression and have an increased risk of having postpartum depression. Other women may still not be very comfortable with taking prescription medications and may try alternative medications such as herbal remedies or vitamin supplements. Herbal remedies such as St. John’s Worts work by elevating mood or increasing serotonin levels, vitamin supplements may work if your body is deficient in some nutrient and taking the correct one may reduce your feelings of depressions. Herbal supplements may benefits some women because they can reduce or eliminate feeling of depression like in antidepressants. Taking a vitamin supplement like vitamin C may be beneficial if you are deficient in that particular vitamin because being deficient in a vitamin such as vitamin C may cause you to have a decrease in serotonin levels and can affect your mood negatively. Psychotherapy and/or support groups can also help a pregnant women handle depression. Unlike medication psychotherapy or support groups may help the person deal with situations that make them depressed by helping her see things in a positive light. In this way the pregnant woman may learn to handle various situations without being overwhelmed. It may also prepares her for the things to come during her pregnancy and allows her to feel supported every step of the way.
