Three months into a pregnancy, 28-year-old Rasna Kohli hit a low patch. She was listless and withdrawn and her family found it inexplicable. “I was expected to look happy even when I wasn’t feeling it. My gynaecologist said it was normal but my in-laws just didn’t understand my mood swings. There were fights with my husband and I just kept getting more anxious,” she says.Kohli is not alone. Studies show that one out of every 10 women suffers from depression of some kind during pregnancy. Not many receive the proper treatment. “From irritability to obsessive compulsive disorder to sadness and anxiety, some women tend to get depressed during the time they are expected to be most joyous,” says Dr Geeta Chadha, gynaecologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. Depression, she says, usually starts after three months of pregnancy and lasts till about two months after giving birth. “About 30 per cent of the pregnant women who come to me are depressed at one point or the other during their pregnancy,” she says. The reasons for depression may vary from hormonal shifts to stress and anxiety. Women who lead stressful lives, have a family history of depression or other related disorders, a complicated or high risk pregnancy or have experienced a loss during pregnancy previously are most likely to suffer from depression. When 27-year-old Simrin Nath got pregnant for the first, she had an accident and miscarried the baby. Two years later, she got pregnant again. “I felt completely out of control. I would try not to get out of bed because I didn’t want to put my baby in any sort of danger this time. Every time I went to the doctor for a routine check-up, I would feel scared of climbing down the stairs and would keep imagining how it would be if I fell down,” she says. She went to the doctor and found that she suffered from an emotional obsessive-compulsive disorder and paranoia. Body changes that accompany pregnancy also trigger depression. “I had always been very fit but after getting pregnant I kept getting fatter and felt that I could never get my previous body back after giving birth,” says 32-year-old Kanika Kapoor. The responsibility of parenting also weighs women down. “I once had a patient who decided to terminate pregnancy because she thought she wouldn’t make a good mother,” says Dr Chadha.But if the mother-to-be is down in the dumps, it’s important for the family to support her. “While sometimes hormonal shifts during pregnancy are to be blamed for anxiety during pregnancy, some women complain that it gets worse because of their spouse’s or in-law’s expectations that they be happy and glowing,” says Dr Monica Chib, psychiatrist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. There are several ways in which you can deal with the depression. “It is important that they get plenty of rest when pregnant. Eating well and light exercise with the advice of your doctor can also help bring the stress levels down,” says Dr Lalita Badhwar, gynaecologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. But if the problem is serious and persistent, go to a counsellor.
