Depression for 13% pregnant women, TMS concrete help for therapy

There are important gender differences in depression: “Le women during their life cycle they have a higher risk to develop a depressive illness, with a prevalence that is about double that of men. Furthermore, recent studies indicate that perinatal depression – which occurs in the period immediately preceding or following birth and up to 12 months after birth – is frequent and affects an average of 13% of pregnant women or in the period postpartum”. To draw the picture of such a complex disease is Antonio DeGiovanni, psychiatrist and medical director of Brain&Care Group, as part of the CME course (residential and live streaming) on ‘The integrated clinical approach and rTMS in the neurological and psychiatric fields’, underway today in Rimini and promoted by LetscomE3 in collaboration with Brain & Care Group.

There depression It is a condition that must be distinguished

There depression It is a condition that must be distinguished, according to the specialist, “from a short-lived depressive reaction, known as ‘baby blues’, which reaches maximum expression in the first 3-4 days after childbirth and tends to vanish generally within the first two weeks. Perinatal depression presents, in particular, more intense and persistent symptoms And it is the result of a complex interaction between endocrine mechanisms and several factors of vulnerability, with serious consequences for the health of the woman herself, for her children and for the whole family “.

The World Health Organization (WHO) During Pandemia, it paid particular attention to the depressive disease, indicating it as the main cause of disability in the western population and the second cause of disability due to illness after cardiovascular disorders. “In the world it suffers about 5% of adults- underlines the psychiatrist- It is also a disorder that not in rare cases tends to recur in the course of life, so much so that recent studies report a probability of relapse after a depressive episode ranging between 35% and 65% of cases ”. Various treatment options are available, ranging from pharmacological therapy to psychotherapy, to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) techniques, but “it must be remembered that about 70% of forms of depression are resistant to pharmacological treatment and that still today – states the medical director – despite the presence of various pharmacological options, there are still ‘unmet needs’ in treatment, especially in the area of cognitive symptoms, in elderly patients and pregnant women”.

How can you cure thewith perinatal depression?

“Of primary importance is the implementation of effective preventive measures to allow for early diagnosis – advises Di Giovanni – it is necessary to take into account that all psychoactive drugs cross the placental barrier, therefore the decision to implement a pharmacological treatment must be weighed by assessing not only the risks of exposure to the drug, but also the risk of the impact of the mother’s depression on the unborn child. In this context, the use of Magnetic Stimulation Techniques, which have proven to be highly effective and free of side effects in the treatment of depressive disorders, can play a very important therapeutic role in women struggling with forms of perinatal depression. The use of a protocol, TMS as any other medical therapy, must however take place in the context of a therapeutic project integrated with all the competent professionalism, in a multidisciplinary team, never leaving out the fundamental interventions of psychological support and family support “.

What is the TMS?

TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) is a technique of non -invasive brain stimulation, That is to say without side and painless effects, able to modulate the activity of the cerebral cortex through the generation of magnetic impulses. “It is a technology used for more than 35 years both as a study method of the nervous system and as a therapeutic tool of proven effectiveness in the treatment of depressive syndromes, of the obsessive compulsive disorder, in the various clinical forms of the phobic-anxious spectrum. Another scope is represented by the treatment of some neurological pathologies such as Parkinson’s disease and the disease of Alzheimer”, The psychiatrist concludes.