Mumbai, February 24: Acupuncture treatments can reduce the symptoms of
depression in pregnant women, says a new study by the researchers at Stanford
University School of Medicine.
Pregnancy may not be a cheerful period for all the pregnant mothers and it is
found that, at least 14 percent women suffer from depression during this phase.
Some of the cases are reported while some are not. These women might suffer from
extreme irritation and anxiety, lack of concentration, feeling fatigued and
feeling extremely hungry or not hungry at all. Some might feel depressed before
becoming pregnant and stop taking their medicines, causing a relapse of the
condition and for some, pregnancy itself causes depression. If left untreated,
depression may harm both the mother and the baby.
Acupuncture is a procedure whereby the filiform needle are inserted and
manipulated into various parts of the body to relieve pain for therapeutic
purposes. This is a well known Chinese traditional medicine.
Rachel Manber, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and lead
author of this study hopes that the results will be able to spread awareness of
the problem of depression during pregnancy and may provide an alternate therapy
to combat this mental condition.
The researchers studied 150 women whose pregnancies were between 12 and 30 weeks
gestation and who were going through major depression. These women were randomly
given one of the three treatments: acupuncture specific for depression; control
acupuncture, during which needles were inserted in points not known to help
alleviate depressive symptoms; or massage. All of the women received eight weeks
of therapy and were assessed for depression at the four- and eight-week marks by
an interviewer who was unaware of the treatment each woman received.
Pregnant women who received a depression specific acupuncture reported more
reduction in depression symptoms than other women in other groups. The response
rate — defined as having a 50 percent or greater reduction in symptoms — was 63
percent for the women receiving depression-specific acupuncture, compared with
44 percent for the women in the other two treatment groups combined.
Treating depression is very important during pregnancy to maintain good health
of herself as well the growing fetus, and later on the child.
Source : Bolohealth
