Meena Gnanasekharan, Ananya Kulkarni, Shilpa Shree and R Kishore Kumar
Reach Psychiatry, India
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Clin Exp Psychol
Introduction: Worldwide approximately 13 percent of women experience post-partum depression. We are looking
at a cross-section of women in a private Hospital setting in India. Depression is a mental health disorder often
characterized by feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of
emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home. Perinatal
Depression affects nearly 1 in 10 women world over, between the ages of 18-35 years. Postpartum mood disorders
affect not only the mothers but also their infants. Mothers undergoing perinatal depression are irritable and lose
interest and motivation in their lives as well as in their new born.
Objective: The objective of the study is to present data on the prevalence of depression in the antenatal period
compared to the postpartum period. The sample of fifty women in the antenatal period and fifty women in the
postpartum period were selected from Cloudnine Hospitals, Bangalore, a private hospital setting.
Methods: The data was collected from these two groups of women using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression
Scale (EPDS) which will identify women who exhibit symptoms of depression in the antenatal and postpartum
periods. The data collected was subjected to a descriptive statistical analysis. The means, SD and the t-value analysis
of antenatal and postnatal were used to determine whether there is a significant difference in the prevalence of
depression in antenatal and postnatal women.
Results: The results reveal that the prevalence of Depression in antenatal women is higher than that of postnatal
women, contrary to popular belief. The results revealed that there is a difference in the means and the p-values
between the two groups, which proves our hypothesis that there is a significant difference in the prevalence of
depression in antenatal and postnatal women.
Recent Publications
1. Couto T C, Cardoso M N, Brancaglion M M, Faria G C, Garcia F D, Nicolato R and Correa H (2016) Antenatal
depression: Prevalence and risk factor patterns across the gestational period. Journal of affective disorders
192:70-75.
2. Kozinszky Z and Dudas R B (2015) Validation studies of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale for the
antenatal period. Journal of affective disorders 176:95-105.
3. Mohammad K I, Gamble J and Creedy D K (2011) Prevalence and factors associated with the development of
antenatal and postnatal depression among Jordanian women. Midwifery 27(6):e238-e245.
4. Olivier J D, Akerud H and Poromaa I S (2015) Antenatal depression and antidepressants during pregnancy:
unraveling the complex interactions for the offspring. European journal of pharmacology, 753:257-262.
5. To A, Ando B, Dudas R B, Dweik D, Janka Z, Kozinszky Z and Kereszturi A (2014) Validation of the Edinburgh
Postnatal Depression Scale as a screening tool for postpartum depression in a clinical sample in Hungary.
Midwifery 30(8):911-918.
Meena Gnanasekharan is an American Board Certified Psychiatrist, practicing Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatry. She has studied her MBBS at Madras Medical College, Chennai, India; Adult Psychiatry Residency at University of South, Dakota School of Medicine, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at University of South Dakota, School Of Medicine. She specializes in the treatment of Mood Disorders (Major Depressive disorders and the Bipolar Spectrum), and Anxiety Disorders (including phobias, OCD and Social Anxiety disorders). She combines her knowledge and experience with empathy and applies an integrative model of treating the mind, body and spirit for optimal effectiveness.
E-mail: meena.arvind@gmail.com
