Mental Health Issues in Pregnancy

This study examines the mental health issues faced by pregnant women, including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. It explores the effects of these issues on the mother, baby, and partner, and discusses assessment and treatment methods. The research is conducted through qualitative methods, with a questionnaire administered to 20 participants.

Mental Health Issues
In Pregnancy
Table of Contents

Abstract............................................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................2
Basic understanding about mental health issue during pregnancy..............................................2
Mental health issues related to antenatal and postnatal period of pregnancy.............................3
Assessment method of diagnosing and treating mental health problems during pregnancy......4
Methodology....................................................................................................................................5
Type of investigation...................................................................................................................5
Data collection method...............................................................................................................5
Results..............................................................................................................................................6
Data Interpretation......................................................................................................................7
Analysis of results..........................................................................................................................11
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................11
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................11
References .....................................................................................................................................12
Abstract
Mental health issues in pregnant women are arising day by day, such issues must be
addressed at the right time and has to be treated well for making the life of the family better. 20
participants have been considered in this study and qualitative research is being conducted. Few

questions have been asked from the respondents regrading the basic concepts, early signs, causes
and effects of the mental health issues in such women.

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
Questionnaire
Q1. Do you know about the concept of mental health issues during pregnancy. Yes No
Q2. As per your opinion, which of the mental problems are mostly identified in pregnant
women? Depression Anxiety Eating disorder
Q3. What are the early signs of pregnancy mental health issues? Mood swings Insomnia Lack of appetite
Q4. What are the effects of mental health problem on foetus? Miscarriage Premature delivery Complications in growth
Q5. Any suggestions for future research.

Data Interpretation
Theme 1: The concept of mental health issues during pregnancy.
Q1. Do you know about the concept of mental health issues during pregnancy. Frequency
 Yes 12
 No 8
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.
12
8
Yes
No

Theme 2: The most determined mental health problems in pregnant women.
Q2. As per your opinion, which of the mental problems are mostly identified
in pregnant women?
Frequency
 Depression 10
 Anxiety 4
 Eating disorder 6
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.
10
4
6
Depression
Anxiety
Eating disorder

Theme 3: The early signs of mental health issues during pregnancy.
Q3. What are the early signs of pregnancy mental health issues? Frequency
 Mood swings 5
 Insomnia 8
 Lack of appetite 7
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.
5
8
7
Mood swings
Insomnia
Lack of appetite

Theme 4: The effects of mental health problems in foetus.
Q4. What are the effects of mental health problem on foetus? Frequency
 Miscarriage 5
 Premature delivery 10
 Complications in growth 5
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.
5
10
5
Miscarriage
Premature delivery
Complications in
growth

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 behavioural and
cognitive aspect of an individual which has to kept in balance for conducting all the basic
functions of day to day life. Depression, anxiety, panic, OCD, PTSD, psychotic diseases are
some mental issues which are faced by a pregnant lady.
Recommendations
It has been recommended that the pregnant women should engage themselves in various
muscles as well as mind relaxation therapies for coping up with changing situations. They are
also recommended to get rid off the habits like drinking and smoking for keeping the body and
mind healthy.

References
Books and Journals
Barrios, Y.V. and et.al., 2015. Association of childhood physical and sexual abuse with intimate
partner violence, poor general health and depressive symptoms among pregnant
women. PloS one.
Bayrampour, H., McDonald, S. and Tough, S., 2015. Risk factors of transient and persistent
anxiety during pregnancy. Midwifery, 31(6), pp.582-589.
Brown, H.K. and et.al., 2016. Pregnancy in women with intellectual and developmental
disabilities. Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada, 38(1), pp.9-16.
Burgess, H.K. and et.al., 2017. The science of citizen science: exploring barriers to use as a
primary research tool. Biological Conservation, 208, pp.113-120.
Cook, S.M. and Cameron, S.T., 2015. Social issues of teenage pregnancy. Obstetrics,
Gynaecology & Reproductive Medicine, 25(9), pp.243-248.
Patrick, S.W. and Schiff, D.M., 2017. A public health response to opioid use in
pregnancy. Pediatrics, 139(3), p.e20164070.
Raphael-Leff, J., 2018. Pregnancy: The inside story. Routledge.
Woolhouse, H. and et.al., 2015. Maternal depression from early pregnancy to 4 years postpartum
in a prospective pregnancy cohort study: implications for primary health care. BJOG:
An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 122(3), pp.312-321.
Yazdkhasti, M. and et.al., 2015. Unintended pregnancy and its adverse social and economic
consequences on health system: a narrative review article. Iranian journal of public
health, 44(1), p.12.