Experts have postulated that stress and depression during pregnancy is directly proportional to premature birth. Hormones which are related to stress play an important part in the development of unborn baby and this tends to shoot up in women who are in depression during pregnancy. High levels of these hormones are involved in triggering labor, leading scientists to believe they could be behind many of the 45,000 premature births that occur in the UK each year – with potentially devastating results. Premature babies tend to die within the first few weeks of their births and if any amongst them survive, they tend to live with health problems such as, lung disease, cerebral palsy, blindness or deafness. Dr Veronica O’Keane, a specialist in mental health in pregnancy, stated ‘many thousands’ of the unexplained premature births are likely to be caused by soaring levels of stress hormones and they could be prevented by treating stress and depression in pregnancy. Dr O’Keane, pointed out that it’s myth that women do not under go depression during pregnancy and that they are their ‘happiest’ mood. However, pregnancy is a stage when women under goes various mood swings and hence, depression comes as a part of pregnancy. Work carried out by Dr O’Keane and presented at a London conference held by the Institute of Psychiatry, hinted that children whose mothers become depressed during pregnancy find it harder to handle stress themselves. Therefore, stress in any given day is not only good for the would-be mother after all it affects the mental health of the progeny as well.
