Overcoming Perinatal And Postpartum Feelings Of Hopelessness

Everyone has moments of sadness. For most people, these feelings last for only hours or days. Almost one-fifth of the people in the world, however, experience major depression, which causes depression that lasts for weeks, months, or longer. These feelings trigger the development of problems functioning in career, family, or social interactions, which can become severe.

Women who exhibit symptoms of depression when they become pregnant are sometimes treated for perinatal depression. This illness can develop at any point after a woman becomes pregnant, or any time thereafter, until the infant is one year old. Usually, however, those who encounter this illness after the child is born are diagnosed with postpartum depression.

Perinatal depression or postpartum depression may be caused by several causes. These causes can be physical. For example, women with a previous or familial history of clinical depression or mental illness are more susceptible to developing perinatal depression or postpartum depression. In addition, alterations in hormone levels in postpartum mothers, such as decreases in estrogen and progesterone levels, can result in depression. After childbirth, thyroid disorders may result in symptoms of depression such as exhaustion, irritability, and despair.

Often, mental depression is caused by emotional factors. Mothers may are fatigued and stressed as they learn to manage the needs of the new baby. These feelings are further made worse by a lack of assistance from family, friends, or significant other. Money issues can also assist in causing postpartum depression.

Perinatal depression and postpartum depression often have grave outcomes for both the woman and her new child. Anxiety and depression can prevent a woman from bonding completely with her child or being able to meet her child's physical and psychological requirements. This can further compound the mother's feelings of worthlessness, self-blame, and self-doubt.

The infant is also stressed by the new mother's condition. An inability to connect with his or her mother can result in the baby to develop trust issues in personal attachments throughout life. Further, infants who do not have their physical or psychological requirements met often do not grow and develop properly. This condition, described as "failure to thrive," can be very serious or even fatal to the infant.

Perinatal depression or postpartum depression can affect everyone in the family. The spouse or significant other sometimes feels ignored or unable to relieve these depression symptoms. This can severely wound the relationship. Older children in the family may experience similar feelings, and exhibit academic or peer difficulties as well.

Depression affects the whole family. For this reason, mothers who develop perinatal depression or postpartum depression ought to seek depression treatment as quickly as possible. Several approaches are available, including talk therapy and drug therapy. Medications, however, are sometimes dangerous for nursing infants, and sometimes have erratic results due to the wide hormonal variations a woman experiences during these hectic months. Moreover, typical counseling therapies can be lengthy and expensive.

Two approaches for dealing with depression that do not require medications and often rapidly yield dramatically effective results are hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. Traditional Hypnotherapy is best used with persons who can be effortlessly entranced or are capable of accepting suggestions without feeling a need to critique or understand them. Ericksonian Hypnotherapy is very useful for individuals who often overanalyze. These techniques assist people to unwind and get rid of tension.

For persons who are more critical or analytical individuals, NLP is often more effective. Through this technique, trained professionals offer clients depression help by helping them to reprogram their thought processes. This method can, quite literally, aid a client think through the depressive condition and conquer it.

Clients can conquer depression by learning NLP tools such as anchoring. They are coached to think of occasions when they were happy and in control of their circumstances. Remembering the event renews these feelings. Clients are instructed to touch two fingers together while experiencing these emotions. The unconscious mind connects the touch of the two fingers with the feelings. Hence, the finger touch becomes an "anchor."

Then, when the individual starts to become stressed, he or she triggers the anchor by touching these same two fingers together again. This elicits feelings of self-control and generates empowerment.

By using another technique called the Flash, people learn to reason away negative emotions. They program their unconscious minds to automatically substitute positive thoughts for negative ones. When negative thoughts develop, the brain automatically exchanges them for positive responses. After learning this strategy, people find it nearly impossible to think negative thoughts!

Summary: Perinatal depression and postpartum depression often have harmful results for a woman and her new child. The rest of the family is also deeply affected by these problems. Due to the potential significance of the outcomes of this condition, females with depression ought to seek treatment as soon as symptoms begin. Two very effective approaches that do not require medicine or great outlays of time and financial resources are hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Alan B. Densky, CH specializes in stress and depression related symptoms as an NGH certified hypnotherapist. He has helped thousands of clients since 1978. He offers CDs for hypnosis therapy for depression. Visit his Neuro-VISION hypnosis website for the hypnosis article library, or watch his free video hypnosis collection.