Definition
Pregnancy is an exhausting, exciting but also beautiful time for every woman. But unfortunately this does not apply to all women. Almost every tenth pregnant woman develops a pregnancy depression, where symptoms such as sadness, listlessness, feelings of guilt and listlessness are at the forefront.
Such pregnancy depression is particularly common in the first and third trimester (third trimester of pregnancy). There can be many causes for this type of pregnancy depression. These range from unresolved childhood traumas such as sexual abuse or the loss of close relatives, to a genetic predisposition for depression, to general stress situations before and during pregnancy (e.g. moving house, weddings, deaths).
However, physical complaints or complications during pregnancy, so-called high-risk pregnancies, are also particularly important in the development of pregnancy depression. But many non-risk pregnant women also often suffer from fears and worries about the future of the baby and their partnership. Many women are concerned about whether they will be a good mother or whether their own child will be healthy.
Often these become the trigger for a pregnancy depression. In order to speak of PPD (Postpartum depression = depression after pregnancy), it must be a long-lasting, many months lasting mood instability after the birth of a child. The course of pregnancy depression corresponds to that of “major depression” according to DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and differs only in the particularity of the time of onset, namely after birth.
This is what makes PPD in its effects on the psyche much more serious than “major depression” without childbirth. Because while the society expects that the freshly become mother is to be pleased about its new luck, the concerning feels straight opposite and may not show this obviously. The feelings of the mother towards the child are determined by alienation and distance.
The feelings of the mother, which are not understood from the outside, are answered by her with self-reproaches. This again strengthens the depressive phase. In terms of differential diagnosis, pregnancy depression can be distinguished from the so-called “baby blues”.
The “baby blues”, also known as the “crying days” after delivery, last for a maximum of one week and occur in 80% of those giving birth. This mood fluctuation can be explained by the rapid drop in hormone levels after birth. Many other factors must also be present for pregnancy depression to be considered a serious depression. In addition, postpartum psychosis (psychosis after birth) is another psychiatric disease after delivery. It is an affective-manic disease that occurs very rarely (2 out of every 1000 people who give birth).
