EC Nursing and Healthcare

Women are especially vulnerable to psychiatric disorders during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, and mood disorders are the most common maternal psychiatric disorders after childbirth [1]. Postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious mental health problem that has a prevalence rate of nearly 20% in the first three months after delivery [2]. Postpartum depression has well-established long-term adverse effects on maternal and infant health [3]. Long-term health effects of PPD to mothers, children, and family include increased maternal and infant mortality, increased hospitalizations, impaired mother-child bonding, and impaired long-term child development [4]. While antidepressants have been effective in treating PPD in many cases, possible side effects of antidepressant medication have been of great concern [5]. Today, psychotherapy methods such as cognitive-behavioral and acceptance and commitment therapies are used for the treatment of various types of mental diseases such as depression [6]. Psychotherapies are effective in the treatment of mild to moderate depression are first-line treatments for major depression and are also the preferred treatment modality by most people with depression [7].

1. Puyané M., et al. “Personality traits as a risk factor for postpartum depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis”. Journal of Affective Disorders 298 (2022): 577-589.
2. Duffecy J., et al. “Randomized controlled trial of Sunnyside: Individual versus group-based online interventions to prevent postpartum depression”. Journal of Affective Disorders 311 (2022): 538-547.
3. Castillo-Angeles M., et al. “Postpartum Depression in Surgeons and Workplace Support for Obstetric and Neonatal Complication: Results of a National Study of US Surgeons”. Journal of the American College of Surgeons6 (2022): 1051-1061.
4. Zhang Y., et al. “Development and validation of a machine learning algorithm for predicting the risk of postpartum depression among pregnant women”. Journal of Affective Disorders 279 (2021): 1-8.
5. Yu Y., et al. “Postpartum depression: current status and possible identification using biomarkers”. Frontiers in Psychiatry 12 (2021): 620371.
6. Wampold BE and Imel ZE. The great psychotherapy debate: The evidence for what makes psychotherapy work: Routledge (2015).
7. Renn BN., et al. “Preference for in-person psychotherapy versus digital psychotherapy options for depression: survey of adults in the US”. NPJ Digital Medicine1 (2019): 1-7.