COVID-19 may deepen depression, anxiety, and PTSD among pregnant women
By: Team Ifairer | Posted: 03-12-2020
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"People who are working from home, who have maternity leave, or who simply have the time to do a survey like this are disproportionately white and well-off," Liu said. "That is a limitation to this work. Through a survey, we can get in-depth information very quickly, but we are missing the perspectives of various important segments of the population."
The researchers used standardized measures for evaluating COVID-19-related health worries and experiences of grief. "We were looking for associations that inform what we can do as clinical providers to better support families during this time," said co-author Carmina Erdei, MD, of the Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine.
"We wanted to know what is being taken away when a new mother is not able to participate in the usual rituals around birth and welcoming a new family member. The survey responses offer valuable insight into that and help guide what we as health care professionals can do better."
The researchers were able to examine how previous mental health diagnoses, as self-reported by the respondents, impacted these rates. They found that those with pre-existing diagnoses were 1.6-to-3.7 times more likely to have clinically significant measures of the three conditions analyzed. But elevated psychiatric distress was observed in participants regardless of their mental health histories.
Qualitative data gathered through the survey have also provided the team with striking insights into the perinatal experience, but these findings have not yet been analyzed systematically.
The researchers note that the mental health experiences of those surveyed match what they observed clinically during the early months of the pandemic, when many of the usual perinatal supports, like assistance from a partner, family member, or peer group, were limited due to fears surrounding COVID-19 infection risks and halting of support services.
"Obstetric practices weren't able to screen for mental health symptoms as well, all while people's mental health was under the most pressure," said co-author Leena Mittal, MD, of the Department of Psychiatry. "Mental health supports have persisted and come back in new ways, and the amount of innovation surrounding delivering group and individual care, especially using virtual platforms, is phenomenal.
On the psychiatry side of things, we have never been busier, and individuals and families who feel they need mental health care should seek it."
source: www.siasat.com