Overcoming Perinatal And Postpartum Dejection
Posted in Health on 03/07/2010 04:03 pm byEveryone has feelings of sadness. Usually, these times persist for only hours or days. Up to twenty percent of the world’s population, however, suffer from major depression, in which these moods last several days, weeks, or months. These moods result in problems functioning in work, family, or social interactions, which can become severe.
Females who experience symptoms of depression after they become pregnant may be diagnosed with perinatal depression. This condition may begin at any point after a woman becomes pregnant, and up till the infant is one year old. Typically, however, those who develop this illness after childbirth are diagnosed with postpartum depression.
Perinatal depression or postpartum depression may be caused by several factors. These factors can be physiological. For example, women who have a previous or familial history of severe depression or mental illness are very likely to experience perinatal depression or postpartum depression. Moreover, alterations in hormone levels in postpartum mothers, such as decreases in estrogen and progesterone levels, can precipitate this condition. After childbirth, thyroid malfunctions may result in signs of depression such as tiredness, irritability, and hopelessness.
At times, mental depression is a result of emotional factors. Women may are fatigued and overwhelmed as they learn to juggle the needs of the new infant. These feelings are often magnified by the absence of support from family, friends, or significant other. Money issues may also assist in causing postpartum depression.
Perinatal depression and postpartum depression can have serious outcomes for both the mother and the new baby. Anxiety and depression may hinder a mother from connecting fully with her child or being able to meet her baby’s physiological and emotional requirements. This may increase the mother’s feelings of insignificance, guilt, and low self-worth.
The infant is also stressed by the new mother’s condition. An inability to connect with his or her mother may cause the baby to develop trust issues in personal attachments throughout life. Further, babies who do not get their physiological or emotional requirements met often do not grow and develop normally. This condition, known as “failure to thrive,” may be very serious or even fatal to the infant.
Perinatal depression or postpartum depression can affect everyone in the family. The spouse or partner sometimes feels neglected or powerless to relieve these depression symptoms. This can severely damage the partnership. Other kids in the family may have comparable feelings, and exhibit school-related or peer problems as well.
Depression harms the whole family. Therefore, mothers who develop perinatal depression or postpartum depression need to get depression treatment as quickly as possible. Numerous treatments can be used, including counseling and medication therapy. Medicines, however, can be harmful to nursing infants, and may have erratic outcomes due to the great hormonal variations a mother experiences during these hectic times. Moreover, typical counseling approaches are usually time-consuming and expensive.
Two approaches for dealing with depression that do not involve medicines and may quickly show incredibly effective outcomes are hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. Traditional Hypnotherapy is best used with clients who are effortlessly hypnotized or able to accept ideas without feeling a need to analyze or comprehend them. Ericksonian hypnosis is very effective for clients who tend to overanalyze. These approaches assist people to relax and eliminate tension.
For people who tend to be more critical or analytical individuals, NLP is often more effective. Using NLP, trained practitioners give individuals depression help by assisting them to reprogram their thought processes. This method can, very literally, help a person think through the depressive mood and conquer it.
Individuals can conquer depression by mastering NLP tools such as anchoring. They are coached to remember situations when they felt happy and in control of their situations. Remembering the memory renews these feelings. People are instructed to touch two fingers together while experiencing these feelings. The subconscious mind connects the touch of the two fingers with the feelings. Therefore, the finger touch becomes an “anchor.”
Then, when the client begins to feel overwhelmed, he or she sparks the anchor by putting these same two fingers together again. This elicits feelings of self-control and results in empowerment.
By using another method known as the Flash, people discover how to think away negative feelings. They program their subconscious minds to automatically exchange positive thoughts for negative ones. When negative thoughts develop, the mind automatically substitutes them for positive responses. After learning this strategy, people find it nearly impossible to conjure up negative thoughts!
Summary: Perinatal depression and postpartum depression may have disastrous effects for a mother and her new child. The remainder of the family may also be profoundly affected because of these problems. Due to the probable gravity of the outcomes of this condition, women with depression need to get help as soon as signs develop. Two very effective approaches that do not use medicine or huge investments of time and money are hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
Alan B. Densky, CH specializes in depression and stress related symptoms as a certified hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner. He’s helped thousands of clients since 1978. He supplies self hypnosis depression therapy CDs. Visit his Neuro-VISION NLP website for the hypnosis article index, or watch his free video hypnosis collection.
- Alan B. Densky, CH