Mental health issues in pregnancy

Introduction

Mental health defines as the behavioural, intellectual as well as the emotional welfare of an individual. The way a person feel, think and act all are associated with the condition of the mental health (Woolhouse and et.al., 2015). Any type of imbalance in the mental health affects the potential relationships, their daily task and even the social as well as physical status. Mental issues in pregnancy like depression, anxiety or stress have the potential to influences the health of mother, baby and also emotionally affects the partner. The effects of antenatal and postnatal mental issues make the condition of mother and baby unstable which has to be managed for leading a healthy life.

Aim: “To analyse the mental health issues related to antenatal and postnatal period of pregnancy.”

Objectives

• To examine the basic understanding about mental health issue during pregnancy.
• To analyse the mental health issues related to antenatal and postnatal period of pregnancy.
• To identify the assessment method of diagnosing and treating mental health problems during pregnancy.

Questions

• What is the basic understanding about mental health issue during pregnancy?
• What are the mental health issues related to antenatal and postnatal period of pregnancy?
• How to identify the assessment method of diagnosing and treating mental health problems during pregnancy?

Literature Review

Basic understanding about mental health issue during pregnancy

According to Bayrampour, McDonald and Tough (2015), the antenatal care has to be provided to the pregnant lady throughout the pregnancy period. The first trimester is being consider as the stage where the lady accept the fact of being pregnant, at this stage both the partners struggle mentally to adapt according to the changing situation. It has been evidenced that half of the women population residing in UK face mental health issue during pregnancy which adversely affects the health condition of the infant and the mother. Such changes induce eating disorder which either make the mother more fat or skinny, both the condition is not healthy for the child as well as for the mother. If the situation remains constant for large period of time then the eating disorder may give rise to depression and anxiety. It is highly recommended to all the pregnant ladies to speak about their thoughts and the feelings they are facing during pregnancy either to their close friends or to the health care practitioners for getting assistance. The alteration in the level of hormones and insomniac condition changes the lifestyle of both the partners and they become frustrated at every small things which further may make their bond less strong and effective.

For some of the people, the pregnancy period is the mixture of joy and challenges, even in such circumstances some couples find various opportunities in these stressors and focus on making the journey more memorable and enthusiastic. For making the pregnancy healthy in terms of mental health, the mother is advised to stop the consumption of alcohol and should stop smoking because they are considered to make the hormone level disturbed which eventually arise number of mental health problems (Cook and Cameron, 2015). Eating completely balanced diet and exercising regularly reduced the chances of becoming fat, which have a major impact on the thinking capacity of a lady, such changes positively regulate the mind set of both the partners and lower the level of stress to a great extent.

Mental health issues related to antenatal and postnatal period of pregnancy

It has been observed that as per the views of Barrios and et.al., (2015), depression and panic disorder is the most dominant mental related health problem during antenatal as well as postnatal time of pregnancy. The chemicals and the hormones like progesterone and oestrogen majorly changes during the pregnancy which causes anxiety and them depression. Due to such issues, the mother sometimes outcry on no grounds, loose pleasures in exciting things, becomes dull, alteration in sleeping hours and in the choice of food. Due to these effects, miscarriage may be caused or the child may get delivered with some defects or less weight also affecting the postnatal period. Prenatal or antenatal Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a kind of anxiety illness that lead to obsessive thoughts and feeling to repeat a certain type of behaviour or act again and again very badly, this may include in safeguarding the baby from germ so the mother spend most of the time in sterilising the surrounding obsessively many times which further stresses the mother and all the family members (Brown and et.al., 2016).

Pregnant ladies may also have psychotic mental problems like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia which not only disturbs their mental state but also physically harm them. Bipolar disorder involves mania and panic which results in extreme mood swings and impairment. It has been seen that such disorders affects the post-partum period more as compared to the antenatal, thus women with such mental issues requires close evaluation by skilled doctors for reducing the negative outcomes like neonaticide or prematurity. Post-partum Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may be observed after the birth of the baby due to troubled labour, emergency handling, or any other traumatic effect while delivering the baby or just after. Such type of trauma have the capacity to disrupt the healthy relationships with the infant and the partner, thus affecting the after life (Patrick and Schiff, 2017). Social phobia is also a part of post-partum which are faced by few number of women after the pregnancy, which involve in keeping the child away from the surrounded people as much as possible.

Assessment method of diagnosing and treating mental health problems during pregnancy

The women who face panic disorder during their pregnancy must get screened for the presence of thyroid disorder. The mental issues in the pregnant lady can be screened either by talking to the psychiatrist or health providers or by taking a well set up clinical interview which involve in providing standard questionnaire so as to evaluate the mental condition of the subject. Such questionnaire is set by a professional individual in local language where the questions are regarding the symptoms they have while pregnancy, the answers are scored and the overall score determines the level of issues and what measures can be taken to make the subject normal and healthy mentally. For treating the state of such women psychological treatments are regarded as the most effective and standard method, the therapies are customised depending upon the severity of mental problem. Cognitive behavioural therapies and few relaxation therapies are being provided for mitigating the effects of depression, phobias, anxiety and varying range of disorders.

Pharmacological treatments includes in providing medicines to provide stability during antenatal and post-partum period. Progressive muscle relaxation approach are effectively used for relaxing the women and making the lady happy and satisfactorily internally as well as mentally (Yazdkhasti and et.al., 2015). Benzodiazepines are mostly prescribed for overcoming the anxiety issues during after and before child birth. Antidepressants medicines like Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) which considers sertraline for lowering the depression problems throughout the pregnancy. Anti psychotic drugs are also utilised for stabilising the pregnant women mental status. All such therapies and medications must be administered only after consulting the doctors personally because these medications have the capacity to complicate the pregnancy and endangering the health condition of baby as well. An integrated and collective method are used which employ the use of therapies as well as all pharmacological treatments together so as to achieve the most effective outcome and recovery method for such mental health issues (Raphael-Leff, 2018).

Methodology

Type of investigation

Qualitative research – This is considered as scientific method of gather or assembling information. Qualitative researcher is representing non numerical data as well as helpful in collecting information about experience, attitude, behavioural etc. There are different methods of collecting qualitative data such as experiment, focus group and so on. In this study, qualitative method is used because a questionnaire has been formed for interviewing the participants. 

Quantitative research – It can be refer as a systematic way to collecting information and its provide data in numerical form. Quantitative research is helpful in converting data in statistical, number or mathematical form in order to take better decision.

Data collection method

Primary methods – This includes collection of original and new data that will help in analysing information. There are various sources that will help in gather primary data such as interview, questionnaire, servery, experiment and so on (Burgess and et.al., 2017). This method will aid in providing accurate information about the topic.

Secondary methods – There are different ways though which researcher could collect secondary data. It includes books and journals, online information, business paper and other documents. This easy and fast method of collecting information and data.

The random sampling is used to select group of respondents and sample size consist 20 respondents

Results

Data Interpretation

Theme 1: The concept of mental health issues during pregnancy.

Interpretation: As per the above graphical representation, 12 participants had the basic understanding about mental health issues while 8 people does not have any idea.

Theme 2: The most determined mental health problems in pregnant women.

Interpretation: According to the pie chart, 10 individuals thinks that depression is the most common issues of pregnancy while 4 respondents thought that anxiety is the most determined problem. Out of 20 people, 6 participants said that eating disorder is the most general mental issue.

Theme 3: The early signs of mental health issues during pregnancy.

Interpretation: Once the pie graph is analysed it has been showed that, 5 people favour mood swings as early signs while 8 people thought insomnia is the one. 7 individual out of 20 considered lack of appetite as the early warning signs of mental instability. 

Theme 4: The effects of mental health problems in foetus.

Interpretation: As per the chart, 5 respondents believes miscarriage is the result of mental troubles whereas 10 people consider premature delivery is the most adverse effect of mental problem on foetus, while 5 though that complication in growth is the impact on foetus.

Analysis of results

It has been analysed that the mental issues which a pregnant woman face during the antenatal or post-partum period not only affects the mental health condition of mother but also adversely affects the behavioural state of the partner and the physical condition of baby. Proper treatments and diagnoses have to be considered seriously for resolving such issues.

Conclusion

From the above report, it can be concluded that mental health is the behavioral and cognitive aspect of an individual that must be kept in balance to conduct all the basic functions of day-to-day life. Depression, anxiety, panic, OCD, PTSD, and psychotic diseases are some mental issues faced by a pregnant lady. For students exploring these topics, using tools like essay typer can help in organizing their research and writing.

Recommendations

It has been recommended that pregnant women should engage themselves in various muscle and mind relaxation therapies to cope with changing situations. They are also recommended to seek assignment help for managing stress during academic pursuits. Additionally, getting rid of habits like drinking and smoking is crucial for keeping the body and mind healthy.

Also Read- Implementing Digital Technology - Apple Guest House

UPTO56%

Avail The Benefit Today!

To View this & another 50000+ free

Enter Email

Submit