Researchers Say Dietary Supplement May Help Cure Postpartum Depression
Canadian researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto say they’ve figured out why some women succumb to postpartum depression after childbirth – and they say that they’re working on a dietary supplement that may well reduce the severity of the condition.
Researchers in Toronto say they’ve discovered neurological changes that occur after childbirth that very likely explain the baby blues and post partum depression.
Using PET scans, the researchers compared the brains of health very new moms to women who had not recently been pregnant. They found that levels of a brain chemical called MAO-A were 43% higher in women who had given birth 4 to 6 days previously, compared to women who had not recently been pregnant.
The difference in MAO-A levels was most striking on the fifth day after childbirth, which is the day that postpartum depression is usually at its worst.
MAO-A is a neurochemical that removes serotonin from the brain. Since serotonin is a neurochemical that is necessary for regulating normal moods, an MAO-A caused reduction in serotonin can lead to a depressed mood. Elevated levels of MAO-A have already been research linked to other forms of depression.
Lead researcher Dr. Jeffrey Meyer of CAMH commented on the significance of the findings by saying, “Understanding the biology of postpartum blues is important because when it is severe it leads to clinical level postpartum depression, the most common complication of childbearing affecting 13% of mothers, and one that can have a devastating impact. We hope this information may be used in the future to create dietary supplements that could provide the nutrients removed by high MAO-A and lower the risk for postpartum depression.”
Roughly 80% of new moms experience the baby blues and 10-15% experience post partum depression.
More like this
Social Contagion: Living with a Person at Risk of Depression May Increase Your Risk As Well
At certain periods in life, living with a person who uses maladaptive thinking styles increases your risk of depression. Fortunately, the opposite is also true.
Telephone Therapy for Depression Almost as Good as in Person Counseling
Researchers at Brigham Young University say that receiving counseling over the phone seems almost as effective as in-person therapy for the treatment of depression.
Researchers Say We Can Teach Depressed People How to Be Happy
Can teaching happiness help to reduce symptoms of depression? Researchers at Duke University Medical School and The University of California, Riverside say probably, and as an added bonus, learning to incorporate activities like counting your blessings or writing thank you notes into a daily routine gets happiness results fast, and doesn’t cost much at all.
New Tool Lets Doctors Predict Postpartum Depression with 80% Accuracy
Spanish researchers say they’ve developed a medical model that predicts, with 80% accuracy, which women will experience postpartum depression after childbirth.
New Adoptive Parents at Risk for Depression
Researchers at Purdue University say that just as new moms get postpartum depression, newly adoptive parents are at risk of postadoption depression – a condition caused largely by a parenting reality that doesn’t meet expectations.