Depression: Maternal Mental Health
Recently, a government appointed panel determined that women should be screened for depression during pregnancy and after giving birth. This is the first time in the history of health care that maternal mental health screening has been recommended, as it should be!
It turns out, maternal mental illness is more prevalent than previously thought.
Unfortunately, a majority of obstetricians have avoided inquiring about the mental health of their expecting mothers because they feared knowing such information would make it a legal liability.
Does anyone besides me think that the current standard of care is totally negligent by excluding mental health from a medical examination of an expectant mother?
In scouring multiple media sources, I was really disappointed to discover there wasn’t a single doctor interviewed recommending natural alternatives for depression during pregnancy aside from talk therapy.
Really? No other options?
Have our doctors been completely bought and sold by big pharma that they won’t even consider safe alternative therapies? It seems like it.
And shame on the media for not interviewing natural medicine and holistic doctors on this issue. But then again, why would they?
They are being paid in advertising dollars by the pharmaceutical industry. As you can see, this is a hot-button issue for me personally. For years mainstream medicine has been scaring women from natural alternatives like acupuncture during pregnancy because it “might be dangerous”.
And yet, their preferred therapy is to write prescriptions for drugs which are KNOWN to pose an increased risk to a developing fetus.
Let’s get a few things straight about maternal depression:
There are varying degrees of severity when it comes to depression.
Depression is the result of a chemical imbalance of the brain brought about by a change in hormones.
Diagnosing and recognizing early warning signs will help prevent more serious imbalances.
Depression can be mitigated and even cured with the intervention of natural remedies like nutritional therapy (fermented cod liver oil, B vitamins and post-partum ingestion of the placenta are a few options), acupuncture, talk therapy, heliotherapy, Heart Math and mindfulness based stress reduction.
Medication should only be administered when symptoms are too serious to respond to natural therapies and the risk to the mother’s wellbeing outweighs the risks to the developing fetus.
I love, love, love, treating expecting mothers.
I have been effective in treating anxiety, depression, digestive imbalances, pain and insomnia during pregnancy for 15 years.
Acupuncture is 100% safe when performed by an informed and experienced acupuncturist.
Side effects are limited to a localized bruise, at worst.
Acupuncture is great in pregnancy as it is proven to regulate the endocrine and neurological systems of the body, down-regulating cortisol and adrenaline, up-regulating serotonin and epinephrine.
In the past 15 years, after treating nearly 100 women throughout their pregnancy, not a single report of a collicky newborn baby.
The most severe case of postpartum depression I treated, a candidate for prescription medication, succeeded in avoiding medication by taking the encapsulated form of her placenta, improving her nutrition and getting acupuncture.
Please share this with the women in your life who may one day become pregnant, are pregnant or just had a baby. They need to know there is a legitimate, 100% safe and natural option should maternal depression ever be a condition they suffer from.