Is pregnancy depression common? Here are the statistics....

Although most of the world's focus has lately been on post natal depression, research statistics show that PREnatal depression is more common.

In 1989 a study was done that examined prevalence of depression in 360 pregnant women; it was found that 10% of the women met diagnostic criteria for clinical depression during pregnancy, whilst only 6,8% were depressed in the postnatal period. A study in 1990, looking for rates of post natal depression in a North American sample, did baseline questionnaires in the third trimester of pregnancy and incidentally found that depression symptoms in pregnancy were apparent in more than 10% of women in pregnancy but in fewer than 10% of the same women AFTER they had delivered. In 2001 a very large British population study found that rates of depressive symptoms above a threshold suggestive of clinical depression were 13,5% at 32 weeks of pregnancy, as opposed to only 9.1% at 8 weeks after delivery.

It's quite well known that depression is more common in women than in men before age 50: statistics suggest it is almost twice as common, in fact. General average rates of depression have been reported as being from 4.8% to 9.2% depending on the population sample. Assuming that rates among non-pregnant women are at the high end of that spectrum, it would seem that depression during pregnany is far more common than average while depression in the post partum is only slightly more common than usual.

So, if you are experiencing depression or low mood in your pregnancy, know that you are not alone. I didn't know that, despite my medical education, when I was pregnant and feeling very low. I thought that there was something uniquely wrong with me, something me that would make me be unable to be a good mother....how's that for a classic depressive thought? My hope is that this website will help women to know that their condition is common and can be treated in many different ways. Nobody should have to merely ride it out. You owe it to yourself and to your child-to-be to know what you can do about it.

For more on pregnancy depression statistics click here.