^{Originally published on BabyCenter.com July 4, 2013}

It’s only been about a month since I blogged about depression, but as with most mental illnesses it’s a topic that needs to be revisited frequently. In this case, Lisa Firestone recently provided a reminder in the Huffington Post that depression is a major problem that moms face. It’s a good reminder not only because there are many moms who know that they will have to deal with depression before and after pregnancy, but also because there are many expectant moms who don’t realize that they are already dealing with it.

Depression is a mental illness. Like most mental illnesses, people generally operate under the assumption that you either have it for life or you don’t have it at all. This is completely untrue. Illnesses come in multiple varieties, including chronic and acute. Assuming that you’ll never suffer depression just because you don’t show the signs of the chronic illness is like assuming that you’ll never catch a cold because you don’t have a runny nose right now. Depression can happen acutely, especially if you have major changes in your hormones and the other chemicals in your brain. In other words, pregnancy can be a depression cocktail for some people.

When it comes to expectant moms, the big thing that people tend to focus on is postpartum depression. This is very important, since that particular kind of depression can be dangerous to both the mother and her child. Prepartum depression is also a thing, though, and is something that people should be more aware of.

I individually am unlucky enough to have witnessed prepartum depression firsthand (well, secondhand, since it was my wife who actually experienced it). This case manifested not in the form of tears and mood swings, not in terms of destructive behavior and suicide attempts, but in a general malaise that damaged my wife’s functioning both socially and in her job. Problems that she normally would have overcome became insurmountable, and stress became a reason to shut down instead of press on through a problem. This wasn’t harmful to our son, but it had the potential to serious hurt her. Fortunately, she got some therapy, and just identifying the problem worked wonders for her.

Really, that’s the most important part of dealing with depression, be it during pregnancy or any other time – you’ve got to identify the problem. Firestone pretty aptly covered the most common signs of depression: “disrupted sleep patterns, difficulty concentrating, lack of energy, a feeling of emptiness, a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, a tendency to overeat or a loss of appetite, feelings of guilt or shame, and at its most extreme, even thoughts of suicide.” Now obviously, many a pregnant woman has had difficulty sleeping or concentrating without being depressed, but if things are bad enough to disrupt your normal lifestyle, you should probably speak with somebody. It’s always better to have a therapist say that they don’t see anything wrong with you than to go undiagnosed when you could be getting help.

Again, depression is an illness. It is not something that defines you, and you can get treatment for it. Many people think of ailments of the brain as something that is simply part of our personalities, but that isn’t the case at all. In my wife’s situation, the diagnosis of depression allowed her to realize that her struggles during pregnancy weren’t some failing in her but rather something that could be treated. Once she recognized the situation, she was able to get treatment and the rest of the pregnancy became much easier for her. After birth, the depression went away and she went back to being her normal upbeat (albeit sleep-deprived) self.

The other thing about depression related to pregnancy is that, like many other illnesses, you can take steps to protect yourself a second time around. Just like somebody who suffers through a particularly nasty flu might spend the next flu season washing hands more regularly and drinking more orange juice, you can take steps to identify depression earlier and even avoid it entirely in some lucky situations. We’re now on our second pregnancy, and with the warning signs now recognizable, it is much easier to navigate through the minefield of depression.

Bottom line: depression is a serious problem, but can be dealt with. Women who are currently pregnant or who have just had a baby are especially susceptible to this illness, and you need to ask for help if you are experiencing the symptoms. Just because it affects your brain doesn’t mean that it defines you. In most cases, a little bit of help will go a long way to getting your life back on track.

_{Featured Image: George Hodan}