Pregnancy Blues: What Every Woman Needs to Know about Depression During Pregnancy Book

It should be a time of joyous anticipationâ??the happiest time in a womanâ??s life. But for many women, the joys of pregnancy are clouded by feelings of fear, sadness, and confusion. And unlike postpartum depression, which is widely portrayed in the media and embraced by the medical community, depression during pregnancy has been rarely discussed and often misunderstoodâ??until now. In this groundbreaking bookâ??the first to focus exclusively on depression in pregnancyâ??Dr. Shaila Kulkarni Misri, a leading reproductive psychiatrist, draws on her twenty-five years of clinical practice and research to offer hope, help, and healingâ??as well as a provocative, myth-shattering examination of a subject that has too long been shrouded in darkness.The numbers are surprising: up to 70 percent of pregnant women experience some degree of depressive symptoms, and of those, 12 percent meet the diagnostic criteria for major depression. Although it is at least as common as postpartum depression, which occurs after a childâ??s birth, pregnancy-related depression is often cloaked in silence, shame, and denial. Pregnancy Blues lifts the veil on this heartbreakingâ??and very treatableâ??illness, examining the key social and biological factors that can come together during pregnancy to create a climate in which depression and anxiety thrive, as well as offering the many effective treatments that are available. Discover:â?¢ How to recognize the signs and symptoms of depressionâ??and know when to seek helpâ?¢ The role of female hormones: why women are more vulnerable to depression than menâ?¢ How depression can â??hideâ? behind physical complaints, such as back, stomach, or even chest painâ?¢ The unspoken connection between infertility and depressionâ?¢ The antidepressant controversy: the facts on specific drugs, their safetyâ??and when medication is the right choiceâ?¢ Breastfeeding and medicationâ??the risks and benefitsPlus helpful self-tests and resources, information on alternative treatment optionsâ??from therapy to acupunctureâ??and much more. A work of daring and compassion, Pregnancy Blues challenges the underlying traditions and beliefs surrounding pregnancy and motherhoodâ??and explores how those misconceptions have led to the drastic underdiagnosis and undertreatment of depression during pregnancy. A must-read for women and those who love them, Pregnancy Blues is at once an extraordinary roadmap to healing and an eye-opening report on a medical issue that no woman can afford to miss.From the Hardcover edition.Read More