After birth, depression affects one in every seven women who give birth, but it is not known much about what is happening in the brains of pregnant women who test. A New study It begins to throw some light.
The researchers wiped the brains of dozens of women in the weeks before and after birth and found that two areas in the brain involved in treating and controlling emotions increased in women who have become symptoms of depression after birth.
The results, published on Wednesday in the magazine of Science Advances, are some of the first evidence that after birth depression is associated with changes in the brain during pregnancy.
The researchers found that women who suffer from symptoms of depression in the first month after birth had increases in the size of the weight, a brain area that plays a major role in emotional treatment. The women who classified the experience of birth as difficult or stressful – a vision often associated with depression after birth – also showed increases in the size of the hippocampus, a brain area that helps organize feelings.
“This is the first step in trying to understand how the brain changes in people who have a natural path of pregnancy and then those who suffer from depression surrounding childbirth, and what we can do about it,” said Dr. Sheila Shanamogan, an assistant professor in the study.
She said: “The large fast food is about how these deep changes in the brain are present during pregnancy and how we see it now in depression circles specifically.”
The study was conducted in Madrid by a team that led efforts to document the effects of pregnancy on the brain. It is part of an increasing group of research that has found that some brain networks, especially those participating in social and emotional treatment, shrink during pregnancy, and may be subject to the process of refining it in preparation for the parents ’fatherhood and motherhood. Such changes It is compatible with childhood pregnancy hormones, especially estrogen, and another after at least two years after birth, Researchers have found.
“The new study appears to be the first to survey and compare the brain areas during pregnancy and after birth and link the changes in depression after birth.” The new study, and the new study appears to be the first to survey and compare the brain areas during pregnancy and after birth and link the changes in depression after birth.
The authors of the study and other researchers said that it is not clear whether the size of the size in the weight and the hippocampus has led to the symptoms of depression and stress perceptions during childbirth or whether the brain changes occur in response to symptoms and pressure. Also, it was not clear from the openings on the brain, why some women seemed more likely to be these symptoms than others.
“People who suffer from change may be more likely to change more likely to change more at risk of depression after birth,” said Susanna Carmona, a neurologist who leads the nervous laboratory at the Instito Davirone Sangerio Margon in Madrid. She said, “It could be the opposite, that these symptoms of depression somehow produce an increase in the size of the weight.”
The researchers studied 88 pregnant women who were not born before and had no previous history of depression or other psychological nervous conditions. For a monitoring group, they also looked at 30 women who were not pregnant. Pregnant women underwent brain tests during the third trimester of pregnancy and about a month after birth.
Women have completed standard questionnaires to assess whether they had symptoms of depression after birth. After childbirth, 15 women showed moderate symptoms of depression and showed 13 other symptoms of depression seriously to justify medical assistance, said Dr. Carmona.
Women also completed questionnaires about whether she imagined a difficult birth experience. Previous studies have shown that “the negative birth experience is linked to an increase in the degrees of depression,” said Dr. Carmona. She said that difficult childbirth experiences were not necessarily difficult shipments, but uncomplicated delivery operations could be considered stressful due to factors such as the rude hospital staff.
Laura Bretchit, post -doctoral researcher at Pennsylvania University, who did not participate in the study, described the results as “really wonderful”, adding that she indicates more research “in an attempt to know the fields of the brain that change more than others in relation to a variety of growth after birth, such as mood, anxiety, and slope.”
Dr. Bretchit, from Essay With Dr. Shanewaghan in the same number of the magazine that defends the research to determine the individual brain signatures of depression surrounding the birth, the results of the new study said help in identifying the road map to improve prediction, diagnosing and treating depression after eventually.
“If we routinely show some areas of the brain, what do we do? How can we intervene early?” She said. “How much natural change? Why may this region be at risk? Many of the interesting questions to ask it after that.”