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Postpartum depression affects approximately one in seven women who give birth, but we know little about what is happening in the brain of pregnant women who experience it. A new study begins to shed light.

The researchers scanned the brain of dozens of women in the weeks and after childbirth and found that two brain areas involved in the treatment and control of emotions increased in women who have developed postpartum depression symptoms.

The results, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, constitute some of the first evidence that postpartum depression is associated with changes in the brain during pregnancy.

Researchers found that women with symptoms of depression in the first month after childbirth also had an increase in the volume of their amygdal, a brain area that plays a key role in emotional treatment. Women who have evaluated their experience in childbirth are difficult or stressful – a perception which is often associated with postpartum depression – has also shown an increase in the volume of the hippocampus, a brain area that helps regulate emotions.

“It is really the first step to try to understand how the brain changes in people who have a normal pregnancy course, then those who suffer from perinatal depression, and what can we do on this subject,” said Dr. Sheila Shanmugan, deputy professor of psychiatry, obstetrics-gynecology and radiology at the University of Pennsylvania which was not involved in the study.

“The big dishes to remember relate to the way there are these really deep brain changes during pregnancy and how we now see it in the depression circuits specifically,” she said.

The study was conducted in Madrid by a team that led efforts to document the effects of pregnancy on the brain. He is part of a Correction of growing research This noted that certain brain networks, in particular those involved in social and emotional treatment, shrink during pregnancyPerhaps undergoing a fine adjustment process in preparation for parenting. Such changes correspond to overvoltages in pregnancy hormones, in particular estrogens, and some last at least two years after childbirth, The researchers found.

The new study seems to be the first to scan and compare brain areas during pregnancy and after childbirth and connect the changes to postpartum depression, said Elseline Hoekzema, a neuroscientist who directs the pregnancy and the brain of the brain of the medical center of the University of Amsterdam and was not involved in the study.

The study authors and other researchers said it was not clear if the increase in volume in the amygdal and the hippocampus caused depressive symptoms and perceptions of stress during childbirth or if brain changes occurred in response to symptoms and stress factors. We also do not know in brain analyzes why some women seemed to be more vulnerable to these symptoms than others.

“It may be that people whose amygdal is more likely to change runs also a higher risk of suffering from postpartum depression,” said the principal of the study, Susana Carmona, a neuroscientist who heads the neuromaternal laboratory of the Institigación Sanitaria Gregio Marañón Investigación in Madrid. “This can also be the opposite,” she said, “that these depression symptoms produce an increase in the volume of the amygdal.”

The researchers studied 88 pregnant women who had not given birth before and who had no previous stories of depression or other neuropsychiatric conditions. For a control group, they also examined 30 women who were not pregnant. Pregnant women underwent brain scanners during their third quarter and about a month after childbirth.

Women have completed standard questionnaires to assess whether they had symptoms of postpartum depression. After childbirth, 15 women showed moderate symptoms of depression and 13 others showed symptoms of depression serious enough to justify medical aid, said Dr. Carmona.

Women have also fulfilled questionnaires to find out if they perceived their experience in childbirth as difficult. Previous studies have shown that “negative birth experience is associated with an increase in depression scores,” said Dr. Carmona. She said that difficult experiences for childbirth were not necessarily medically stimulating childbirth, but that childbirth could be simple deliveries that women perceived as stressful because of factors such as coarse hospital staff.

Laura Pritschet, a postdoctoral scholar in psychiatry from the University of Pennsylvania which was not involved in the study, called the “really fascinating” results, adding that they open the way to additional research “trying to understand which areas of the brain change the most compared to a variety of results after giving birth, such as mood, depression”.

Dr Prieschet, who wrote an article With Dr. Shanmugan in the same issue of the review which recommends research in order to determine the individualized brain signatures of perinatal depression, said that the results of the new study help to identify a roadmap to finally improve the prediction, diagnosis and treatment of postpartum depression.

“If we regularly show that certain brain areas are involved, what do we do?” How can we intervene early? She said. “What is the normal quantity of change?” Why could this area be vulnerable? Lots of interesting questions then ask.

Postpartum depression affects approximately one in seven women who give birth, but we know little about what is happening in the brain of pregnant women who experience it. A new study begins to shed light.

The researchers scanned the brain of dozens of women in the weeks and after childbirth and found that two brain areas involved in the treatment and control of emotions increased in women who have developed postpartum depression symptoms.

The results, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, constitute some of the first evidence that postpartum depression is associated with changes in the brain during pregnancy.

Researchers found that women with symptoms of depression in the first month after childbirth also had an increase in the volume of their amygdal, a brain area that plays a key role in emotional treatment. Women who have evaluated their experience in childbirth are difficult or stressful – a perception which is often associated with postpartum depression – has also shown an increase in the volume of the hippocampus, a brain area that helps regulate emotions.

“It is really the first step to try to understand how the brain changes in people who have a normal pregnancy course, then those who suffer from perinatal depression, and what can we do on this subject,” said Dr. Sheila Shanmugan, deputy professor of psychiatry, obstetrics-gynecology and radiology at the University of Pennsylvania which was not involved in the study.

“The big dishes to remember relate to the way there are these really deep brain changes during pregnancy and how we now see it in the depression circuits specifically,” she said.

The study was conducted in Madrid by a team that led efforts to document the effects of pregnancy on the brain. He is part of a Correction of growing research This noted that certain brain networks, in particular those involved in social and emotional treatment, shrink during pregnancyPerhaps undergoing a fine adjustment process in preparation for parenting. Such changes correspond to overvoltages in pregnancy hormones, in particular estrogens, and some last at least two years after childbirth, The researchers found.

The new study seems to be the first to scan and compare brain areas during pregnancy and after childbirth and connect the changes to postpartum depression, said Elseline Hoekzema, a neuroscientist who directs the pregnancy and the brain of the brain of the medical center of the University of Amsterdam and was not involved in the study.

The study authors and other researchers said it was not clear if the increase in volume in the amygdal and the hippocampus caused depressive symptoms and perceptions of stress during childbirth or if brain changes occurred in response to symptoms and stress factors. We also do not know in brain analyzes why some women seemed to be more vulnerable to these symptoms than others.

“It may be that people whose amygdal is more likely to change runs also a higher risk of suffering from postpartum depression,” said the principal of the study, Susana Carmona, a neuroscientist who heads the neuromaternal laboratory of the Institigación Sanitaria Gregio Marañón Investigación in Madrid. “This can also be the opposite,” she said, “that these depression symptoms produce an increase in the volume of the amygdal.”

The researchers studied 88 pregnant women who had not given birth before and who had no previous stories of depression or other neuropsychiatric conditions. For a control group, they also examined 30 women who were not pregnant. Pregnant women underwent brain scanners during their third quarter and about a month after childbirth.

Women have completed standard questionnaires to assess whether they had symptoms of postpartum depression. After childbirth, 15 women showed moderate symptoms of depression and 13 others showed symptoms of depression serious enough to justify medical aid, said Dr. Carmona.

Women have also fulfilled questionnaires to find out if they perceived their experience in childbirth as difficult. Previous studies have shown that “negative birth experience is associated with an increase in depression scores,” said Dr. Carmona. She said that difficult experiences for childbirth were not necessarily medically stimulating childbirth, but that childbirth could be simple deliveries that women perceived as stressful because of factors such as coarse hospital staff.

Laura Pritschet, a postdoctoral scholar in psychiatry from the University of Pennsylvania which was not involved in the study, called the “really fascinating” results, adding that they open the way to additional research “trying to understand which areas of the brain change the most compared to a variety of results after giving birth, such as mood, depression”.

Dr Prieschet, who wrote an article With Dr. Shanmugan in the same issue of the review which recommends research in order to determine the individualized brain signatures of perinatal depression, said that the results of the new study help to identify a roadmap to finally improve the prediction, diagnosis and treatment of postpartum depression.

“If we regularly show that certain brain areas are involved, what do we do?” How can we intervene early? She said. “What is the normal quantity of change?” Why could this area be vulnerable? Lots of interesting questions then ask.

Postpartum depression affects approximately one in seven women who give birth, but we know little about what is happening in the brain of pregnant women who experience it. A new study begins to shed light.

The researchers scanned the brain of dozens of women in the weeks and after childbirth and found that two brain areas involved in the treatment and control of emotions increased in women who have developed postpartum depression symptoms.

The results, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, constitute some of the first evidence that postpartum depression is associated with changes in the brain during pregnancy.

Researchers found that women with symptoms of depression in the first month after childbirth also had an increase in the volume of their amygdal, a brain area that plays a key role in emotional treatment. Women who have evaluated their experience in childbirth are difficult or stressful – a perception which is often associated with postpartum depression – has also shown an increase in the volume of the hippocampus, a brain area that helps regulate emotions.

“It is really the first step to try to understand how the brain changes in people who have a normal pregnancy course, then those who suffer from perinatal depression, and what can we do on this subject,” said Dr. Sheila Shanmugan, deputy professor of psychiatry, obstetrics-gynecology and radiology at the University of Pennsylvania which was not involved in the study.

“The big dishes to remember relate to the way there are these really deep brain changes during pregnancy and how we now see it in the depression circuits specifically,” she said.

The study was conducted in Madrid by a team that led efforts to document the effects of pregnancy on the brain. He is part of a Correction of growing research This noted that certain brain networks, in particular those involved in social and emotional treatment, shrink during pregnancyPerhaps undergoing a fine adjustment process in preparation for parenting. Such changes correspond to overvoltages in pregnancy hormones, in particular estrogens, and some last at least two years after childbirth, The researchers found.

The new study seems to be the first to scan and compare brain areas during pregnancy and after childbirth and connect the changes to postpartum depression, said Elseline Hoekzema, a neuroscientist who directs the pregnancy and the brain of the brain of the medical center of the University of Amsterdam and was not involved in the study.

The study authors and other researchers said it was not clear if the increase in volume in the amygdal and the hippocampus caused depressive symptoms and perceptions of stress during childbirth or if brain changes occurred in response to symptoms and stress factors. We also do not know in brain analyzes why some women seemed to be more vulnerable to these symptoms than others.

“It may be that people whose amygdal is more likely to change runs also a higher risk of suffering from postpartum depression,” said the principal of the study, Susana Carmona, a neuroscientist who heads the neuromaternal laboratory of the Institigación Sanitaria Gregio Marañón Investigación in Madrid. “This can also be the opposite,” she said, “that these depression symptoms produce an increase in the volume of the amygdal.”

The researchers studied 88 pregnant women who had not given birth before and who had no previous stories of depression or other neuropsychiatric conditions. For a control group, they also examined 30 women who were not pregnant. Pregnant women underwent brain scanners during their third quarter and about a month after childbirth.

Women have completed standard questionnaires to assess whether they had symptoms of postpartum depression. After childbirth, 15 women showed moderate symptoms of depression and 13 others showed symptoms of depression serious enough to justify medical aid, said Dr. Carmona.

Women have also fulfilled questionnaires to find out if they perceived their experience in childbirth as difficult. Previous studies have shown that “negative birth experience is associated with an increase in depression scores,” said Dr. Carmona. She said that difficult experiences for childbirth were not necessarily medically stimulating childbirth, but that childbirth could be simple deliveries that women perceived as stressful because of factors such as coarse hospital staff.

Laura Pritschet, a postdoctoral scholar in psychiatry from the University of Pennsylvania which was not involved in the study, called the “really fascinating” results, adding that they open the way to additional research “trying to understand which areas of the brain change the most compared to a variety of results after giving birth, such as mood, depression”.

Dr Prieschet, who wrote an article With Dr. Shanmugan in the same issue of the review which recommends research in order to determine the individualized brain signatures of perinatal depression, said that the results of the new study help to identify a roadmap to finally improve the prediction, diagnosis and treatment of postpartum depression.

“If we regularly show that certain brain areas are involved, what do we do?” How can we intervene early? She said. “What is the normal quantity of change?” Why could this area be vulnerable? Lots of interesting questions then ask.