Depression during pregnancy: causes and warning signs

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Extract from the article: Depression is a behavioural disorder in which the mood is pathologically fixed in sadness or pain. This abnormality is often seen in pregnant women who feel depressed for several reasons.

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Depression is a behavioural disorder in which the mood is pathologically fixed in sadness or pain. This abnormality is often seen in pregnant women who feel depressed for several reasons.

Depression is an illness that affects a person's thinking, actions and feelings. Sometimes it occurs during pregnancy and for a few months after delivery. It can occur at various intensities. According to studies done by the Association Togolais du Bien-Être Familial (ATBEF) on depression, about 18% of pregnant women suffer from mild depression during their pregnancy and 7 to 12% of women may experience moderate or severe depression. 

The causes

Depression is often ignored or even neglected by some pregnant women. However, its consequences are serious and dangerously affect all aspects of the victim's life. The risk factors for this illness are many, including environmental factors: the pregnant woman is sometimes abandoned by her own parents or in-laws. For Grâce Koumayi, midwife and founder of the NGO « Faire Autrement », « when we say pregnancy, we mean the change in hormones. So the changes in hormones can act on the chemicals in the brain and that will trigger this depression and most pregnant women experience this depression in the first three months of pregnancy, that is to say the first trimester ».

We can also mention socio-economic conditions such as marital problems and precariousness. According to the midwife, the other, quieter cause of this depression in pregnant women is that they are not actors in their pregnancy but rather spectators. The midwife and the gynaecologist do not let her do what she wants, but she does what they suggest. 

Recognising a depressed pregnant woman

Justine, a secretary in a communications agency and mother of a daughter, testifies: « During my pregnancy, I sometimes wake up very sad, I no longer have the desire to live, because everything in life becomes undesirable. This leads me to isolate myself and stay in solitude ». 

Depression in pregnant women refers to different kinds of symptoms. The first signs are related to a change in mood. They refer to the pregnant woman's sadness, general disinterest and, in particular, disgust with her pregnancy. Other signs include irritability, loss of interest in usual activities, feelings of hopelessness, guilt and inability to concentrate. « When we say depression it is a mood disturbance, it will manifest itself in change. That is to say, the husband or the people around him will no longer recognise the woman. What the woman has always loved, she will hate, the mood swing. Sometimes she is happy, sometimes she is angry, lack of sleep. It's true that during pregnancy there is a lack of sleep, but in a depressed woman, this lack of sleep is more advanced. We have palpitations, she may have nightmares », the midwife describes.

Depression in pregnant women can also be characterised by physical symptoms, such as weight loss or gain, headaches and constipation.

Joseph GANGUI