During pregnancy we avoid discussing psycho-emotional changes which a pregnant woman goes through while great attention is paid to the physical changes in her body.
During these nine months, the woman’s mood is changeable and is characterised by enthusiasm, impatience but also anxiety and fears. One in ten pregnant women suffers from depression or/and anxiety according to the WHO.
The pregnant woman may think “I feel totally on my own”, “Everyone has abandoned me”, “I won’t make it through the end”, “You can’t understand me” and “Nobody helps me”.
Pregnancy is a transitional stage in a woman’s life and involves an assortment of emotions. There are various psychological-social issues affecting a mother-to-be, such as the importance of a baby coming, changes in her relationships, support by her partner and family and expectations for her new role as a mother. Other practical problems affecting a pregnant woman’s psychology is the economic situation of the family.
In pregnancy, the woman’s body changes and its image is altered in a short period of time. The pregnant woman feels that she takes up more space, she becomes heavy and sluggish. Therefore, it is natural for her to feel quite a bit of difficulty, resulting in affecting her self-image and self-confidence. Both because of body changes and because of the need to take care of the embryo’s health, the pregnant woman may have to change some of her habits, while her independence and strengths decrease. The different way of life may cause confusion to the pregnant woman until she gets accustomed to her new habits.
Hormonal changes increase tension with which emotions are experienced and cause sudden mood changes. It is normal for a pregnant woman to feel anxiety and difficulty in coping with her feelings. Furthermore, the pregnant woman’s environment, trying to help, might become pressing. The pregnant woman might find herself in a position hearing very different piece of advice concerning her pregnancy, resulting in her feeling pressure by the environment and being afraid that they maybe cannot understand her and support her.
When should you seek help?
Talk to your gynaecologist and seek help from experts in case you experience:
- Sense of dissatisfaction
- Negative thoughts for yourself, others or/and the future
- Extreme irritability, anxiety or/and extreme sentimentality
- Insomnia or sleepiness during the whole day
- Bulimia or anorexia
- Inability to concentrate
- Feelings of guilt or feelings of decreased self-respect and self-esteem and underestimation of capabilities
- Panic attack (increase in heart rate accompanied by dizziness or fainting, sweating hands, inability to breath and sense that you might be experiencing a heart attack or death)
- Thoughts and concerns regarding your own health or your baby’s one and intense feeling that something terrible will happen
Can depression and anxiety in pregnancy be prevented?
Depression and anxiety are biochemical situations, so possibly you might not be able to avoid them completely if there is some tendency for them. However, paying attention to your emotional state will ease symptoms. Prioritise your works and resist the impulse to complete as many obligations as possible before the baby arrives. Put yourself in priority by doing pleasurable activities (e.g. read a book or take a walk). Exercising and sleep will help you fight anxiety so that it will not take over you.
A very important source of support for the pregnant woman is information. This means that she can discuss with the experts but also read regarding changes in her body, their meaning and how they can affect her lifestyle, resulting in her feeling safer, because she will know what to expect and she will face each change as a normal procedure of the new situation.
Another important source of support for the pregnant woman is her environment. Discuss with your partner, your family or/and your friends about your fears and anxieties for the future. When a pregnant woman shares the feelings and thoughts that scare her with people she trusts, she is relieved and takes courage. The development of the ability of the mother-to-be to set boundaries in how much she is affected by her environment is still valuable during pregnancy. In this boundary-setting procedure she may have her husband or another person with whom she has a good relationship as an ally.
How is depression and anxiety in pregnancy treated?
Psychotherapy will help diagnosing the problem and finding solutions through discussion and guidance, since women are given the opportunity to investigate the challenges and concerns created by pregnancy and new parents are educated in coping with their stress and phobias.
At the therapist, the pregnant woman will feel free to express all difficulties and changes that scare her and will find her own ways to cope with new situations through learning methods of deep relaxation, positive thoughts and improvement of communication skills, use of cognitive – behavioural strategy for facing negative emotions such as sorrow, anger, disappointment, frustration, concern, anxiety and loneliness.
The mother-to-be needs to be emotionally supported both to be able to cope with the constant changes she experiences but also to prepare herself for a healthy relationship with the baby that will come to her life.
