My guest this week is Dr. Michal Regev. She is a Registered Psychologist and a Registered Marriage and Family Therapist. Her website is at http://www.drregev.com/
Our topic is mood disorders and depression during pregnancy.
We discuss why women get depressed during pregnancy, symptoms that present and what treatment options are available.
While postpartum depression has received much media attention, many of us are in the dark regarding mood disorders during pregnancy.
According to Dr. Regev, “Between 10-15% of pregnant women develop serious depression while some struggle with anxiety, panic, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bi-polar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Health care professionals (and families) often fail to recognize the symptoms, so it’s important that we educate ourselves for the well-being of ourselves and our babies.
I think a lot more mothers – with kids of all ages – suffer from depression than is known, because motherhood is such a heavy responsibility and sometimes become too much to bear.
But the guilt that they might burden someone else with their problems, or be perceived as a “bad” mother, keeps them suffering in silence.