Get Treatment Advice Now
Speak to an expert
To get in touch with an expert, call or message us using the contact details provided below. Alternatively, you can complete our online enquiry form, and we will get straight back to you.
What is Perinatal Depression?
There are three common types of depression during pregnancy. Antenatal (prenatal) depression is when someone is pregnant, postnatal depression is during the first year after having a baby and perinatal depression is any time from becoming pregnant to one year after birth. While lots of people are aware of postnatal depression, which affects around 1 in 10 women, few know about prenatal depression.
During pregnancy, there are a lot of changes to come to terms with and this can sometimes have an impact on the way you feel. Depression isn’t the only health symptom that can occur as panic attacks and anxiety are common too. In very severe cases, pregnancy psychosis can also occur.
It’s completely normal to feel emotional during pregnancy and just after birth as hormones and your body’s natural chemicals try to balance out. However, if your symptoms last longer than two weeks, you could be suffering from depression. Some of the most common symptoms include:
- A persistent low mood and feelings of sadness
- Loss of interest
- A lack of enjoyment
- Low energy or feeling tired
- Withdrawing from friends and family
- Difficulty concentrating and making decisions
- Struggling to look after yourself and the baby
- Frightening thoughts and feelings
A lot of people don’t even realise that they are suffering from prenatal depression or postnatal depression because it can develop gradually. However, just know that there is a range of support out there and it does not mean that you’re a bad parent. Speaking to a professional, or one of the team at Addiction Advocates, will help you to get back onto the right track though.
What are the Causes of Prenatal and Postnatal Depression?
Experts believe that a history of mental health can increase an individual’s likelihood of experiencing depression in pregnancy. However, just because you have suffered with bad mental health before, it doesn’t mean you will when you’re pregnant or having just given birth. Some of the other most common causes include:
- Not having a support system
- Being away from friends and family
- Having a difficult relationship with your partner
- Stressful life events like bereavement
- Trauma like domestic violence
It’s important to note that even if you haven’t suffered with any of the above, pregnancy is still a life-changing event that can trigger feelings of depression. Ultimately, being a new parent can be exhausting and stressful and this can all impact the way you feel.
Can Perinatal Depression be Avoided?
Depression is an illness and it’s never someone’s fault if they suffer from it. However, there are a few things you can do to boost your mental health. This includes:
- Maintaining a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise
- Talking to someone
- Going to antenatal classes and making friends with new parents and pregnant women
- Being kind to yourself and not setting high expectations
- Keeping a mood diary
- Asking for help if you need it
If you are pregnant, you should also consider talking to a medical professional if you’ve suffered from bad mental health before or someone in your family suffered from antenatal depression. This is because they discuss the warning signs to look out for and offer advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Seth is an author, addiction recovery expert and fully accredited member of the national counselling society. He has experience working with a wide range of addictions and mental illnesses using a number of evidence-based therapies and programmes such as the SMART models of addiction recovery.
What do our previous clients think?
How We Help
Finding the right treatment for your addiction can be difficult this is why we have created a service which takes the stress away which can be a massive relief when dealing with an addiction.
Self Referrals
Suffering with an addiction and being alone can be a horrific scenario for many. Whether you have a drug or alcohol addiction, we're here to help.
Family Referrals
Do you have concerns that a loved one may be affected by substance misuse? Have you spotted any signs and symptoms of a drug and alcohol…
Friend Referrals
Are you worried that a friend’s alcohol or drug consumption has become out of control? For many individuals, substance abuse starts unintentionally…What We Offer
Free Assessment
This is done to assess what sort of help is needed so we can recommend an addiction treatment service that can provide the best help possible.
All calls are strictly confidential and are carried out by a trained healthcare professional.
No obligation recommendations are made after a full assessment of yourself or loved ones situation is fully made.
Recommendations include specialist addiction treatment programmes in CQC regulated facilities based throughout the UK.
If you are unable to afford private treatment then public healthcare and charities would also be recommended to you.
How We Support You
We have a large number of helpful services available to help give you the best possible support when it comes to dealing with addiction.
Just some of the services we can offer includes:
- Free confidential telephone assessment
- Recommending CQC regulated residential addiction treatment providers
- Arranging for an intervention, if needed
- Insights into how different therapies and evidence based treatments work
- How detoxification works and what is the most safest option
- What type of rehab and detox programmes would be best suited for yourself or loved one
- Recommendations of the best providers in your area
Why Choose Us?
We can help take the stress out of finding an addiction treatment provider by recommending only the best options available that fully suits your criteria.
The help and advice we can provide includes making sure that your journey towards recovery is one that can definitely be achieved.
Taking the step towards recovery can be incredibly tough but we are here to put your concerns at ease by giving you insights into the safety of undertaking residential addiction treatment and how it can put you on the path towards long lasting recovery from addiction.
Our team of advisors have extensive experience and knowledge about the subject of addiction and the treatment provided so if you have any questions then they will be more than happy to help.
Get started today by calling our friendly team today on 0800 012 6088.
