Depression during pregnancy

Abstract

In recent years much more attention has been paid to postnatal mental illness and to its possible effects on the baby than to antenatal mental disorder and its effects on fetal development. It is now generally accepted that most women do not conform to the stereotype of the woman who blooms with health in pregnancy. Observers have commented on the apparent high prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in pregnancy. Studies of antenatal depression offer certain advantages. The time perimeter is limited to the pregnancy, easing comparisons between studies. Furthermore women can easily be recruited since pregnancy is a time of high medical contact.