with Tara Maxa.

What are some signs and symptoms of Maternal Anxiety and Depression at distinct stages of pregnancy?

In this video, Dr. Tara Maxa, MSN, RN, RNC-OB, C-EFM, CNE, RNC-IAP, CHSE, discusses signs and symptoms of Maternal Anxiety and Depression.

Transcript

My name is Tara Maxa and I am an RN, but I’m also an MSN. I teach nursing students at the School of Nursing for Texas A&M, but I’m also by trade a labor and delivery nurse and I have practiced for about 12 1/2 years now.

What are some signs and symptoms of maternal anxiety and depression at distinct stages of pregnancy?

So when we’re talking about signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression, you know, it can be very individualized. Somebody may experience one symptom and their friend right next to them may not experience that symptom at all. So when we talk about anxiety in, you know, prenatally or after delivery, which we refer to as a postpartum period, that anxiety can look like extreme worry. So it’s very normal to worry when you have a new baby that you want to make sure you’re doing everything okay. When we talk about maternal anxiety, we’re talking about thoughts that become very intrusive, thoughts that keep replaying in your mind over and over. This worry that won’t go away. So it prevents you from sleeping, it prevents you from eating, it prevents you from doing those things that you would normally do on a daily basis because you’re so consumed by those thoughts. Depression, on the other hand, is going to be maybe extreme sadness or guilt, you know, just wanting to sleep all the time or not wanting to do those things that you would normally do that you enjoy like going to the park or you know reading a book or something, you don’t feel like yourself. So again those symptoms can be very versatile depending on who the person is. but that’s kind of a general idea of both of those.