What is depression? What causes it? We are talking about everything related to depression, especially as it relates to fertility and pregnancy. I guarantee that today’s show will challenge your thinking in so many ways about depression. 

 

When I used to work in clinical psychology, I was always drawn to the work around depression, grief, and mourning. There are different perspectives on depression and many models that try to explain depression. It wasn’t until I went through infertility and high-risk pregnancy and delved into the field of psychoneuroimmunology that I realized that we seek to treat depression in a way that doesn’t actually treat depression. We slap a Band-Aid on the problem without getting to the root of the problem.

 

Episode Highlights:

 

• Depression is closely tied to the stress response that our physical bodies have, and sometimes the symptoms are subtle and not easily recognized
• The stress response is a good thing that protects us and is not just an emotional response, but a response of the nervous, hormonal, and immune systems
• We need to shut down the stress response and turn on the relaxation response
• Depression is related to the stress response because it affects and compromises the immune system and we get sick a lot
• Some changes to our immune system show up as symptoms of depression
• Psychosomatic symptoms are your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong
• My personal story of my mood and stress response while pregnant
• Why I seek to find and treat the physical aspects of depression and not simply the cognitive aspects
• Body symptoms, low mood, frequent sickness, aches and pains, digestive problems, and feelings of “being off,” are all connected to your stress response
• Quick highlights of the current research on the link between depression, fertility problems, and pregnancy risk
• The impact of community support, social support, and partner support
• Don’t waste another day in suffering!

 

Resources:

 

Pregnancy Brain by Parijat Deshpande

 

Episode 74 of Delivering Miracles