Mental Health Treatments During & After Pregnancy Need More Attention
treatments during and after pregnancy need more attention, according to a recent analysis. The risks of , depression, bipolar disorder, and more during pregnancy are well documented, however, the benefits of taking them are not nearly as well known. As such, women could be needlessly suffering from an illness whose effects could be minimized by taking a prescription during or after pregnancy but there just is not enough information available for doctors to make this determination.
According to researchers from Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the number of studies conducted on the benefits of taking medications for mental illness during pregnancy and the postpartum period is extremely scarce. While there are quite a few that discuss the risks and negative outcomes of taking the prescription, studies have not been conducted to see if the benefits outweigh the risk for those who need medication to stabilize their condition.
The analysis of studies, published in the journal , could not make a distinction between whether what was being considered as a risk was caused by the medication being taken for the mental illness or from the mental illness itself, according to .
As such, it is not clear if pregnant women would be safer remaining on their medications to maintain good mental health or if it is truly necessary to take them off of their normal medications and be given a substitution while or breastfeeding their babies.
Mental illness is not just experienced in a few women during and after pregnancy. More women than not will have some form of mental health problems, be it long or short term.
According to , 20 percent of women suffer mental illness during pregnancy. After giving birth, 11 to 20 percent will suffer from , and upwards of 80 percent will deal with minor to major episodes of depression after delivering their child as well.
Because of these statistics, being able to determine if the treatment necessary outweighs the risks to the baby during and after pregnancy is vital to the mental health of so many women. However, because the risks are only researched when it comes to the babies versus what the risks to women are if they remain untreated or are switched to new medications during pregnancy, it can leave many but for their babies' lives as well.
What researchers were able to determine through their analysis of 164 studies is that "brexanolone and sertraline likely lessen depressive symptoms," according to . They further found that "mood stabilizers may reduce recurrence of bipolar disorder."
Pregnant women and their doctors must be able to discuss what the best treatments are for mental health issues during pregnancy and beyond. Without enough information available on medications on the market, it is very possible that treatments are being overlooked, leaving those expecting with subpar treatment both while pregnant and during the postpartum phase of life as well.
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