Treating Postpartum Depression With TMS

Imagine the surprise: You have been thrilled since the day you learned you were expecting your first baby.

You celebrated the upcoming birth with your spouse, friends, and family.  All those cute new baby clothes were tucked neatly into the drawers, the crib was assembled, and stacks of diapers filled the closet. But with all the giddy anticipation of your new baby’s arrival, you had absolutely no idea of the emotional meltdown you would experience once he or she finally arrived.

In your case, it isn’t just the “baby blues.” Postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious – but treatable – mood disorder. However, in some cases, it doesn’t respond to traditional forms of treatment.

As hopeless as that feels, there’s hope. Transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, can relieve your symptoms where other forms of treatment couldn’t. Anew Era TMS & Psychiatry utilizes TMS to effectively treat postpartum depression and more.

TMS for Postpartum Depression: How It Helps You Recover

TMS helps treat the symptoms of postpartum depression with carefully targeted electromagnetic pulses. This helps strengthen parts of the brain involved in emotional regulation.

During your TMS session, an electromagnet is carefully positioned on your scalp. The electromagnet emits timed pulses in your prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that helps govern your emotions.

Mood disorders like postpartum depression actually cause physical changes to your brain structure. By stimulating areas of your brain structure involved in emotions, TMS helps increase activity in these areas, helping to activate the brain’s neuroplasticity, or its ability to rewire itself.

This helps lift your mood and helps you manage the symptoms of postpartum depression.

How Does TMS Help Me?

TMS has major benefits for new mothers:

• It’s Drug Free: TMS doesn’t need anesthesia. This means you won’t have the risk of drugs in your system or breast milk. It’s an ideal therapy for breastfeeding mothers.
• There’s No Down Time: You don’t need to recover from a TMS session. The average session lasts around 30 minutes, and you’re back on your feet at the end of it.
• Minimal Side Effects: TMS has minimal side effects – most people report feeling a slight tingling on their scalp or minor headaches after their sessions.
• It Works Where Other Treatment Doesn’t: If traditional forms of postpartum depression treatment haven’t been working, TMS may be able to help you manage your symptoms.

What Is Postpartum Depression?

Postpartum depression is a serious health condition that often affects new mothers after childbirth. It involves long-lasting feelings of anxiety and sadness that are often more intense than those felt during the “baby blues.” This mood disorder often starts a few weeks after delivery, but it can also start during pregnancy or even a year after birth.

It should be stressed that postpartum depression, like other mental health disorders, is NOT a character flaw or personal weakness. It’s a complex and real health condition that is often driven by social, emotional, and even biological factors.

What Are Mood Disorders?

Mood disorders are a class of mental health disorders that affect our moods. These disorders create long-lasting and intense mood swings, which can be serious enough to affect daily functioning.

Depression, also known as major depressive disorder, is probably the best-known. Mood disorders also include bipolar disorder, which involves feeling both extremely high and low moods.

It’s important to remember that mood disorders don’t discriminate – anyone can be affected by them. Also, mood disorders are treatable conditions.

Do I Have Postpartum Depression? The Symptoms of PPD

Only a trained professional can accurately diagnose you with postpartum depression (PPD). However, PPD does have some distinct symptoms of its own:

• Severe mood swings
• Impaired ability to concentrate
• Thoughts of hurting the baby
• Sleep disturbances
• Irritability and angry outbursts
• Difficulty bonding with your baby
• Unwanted or intrusive thoughts of harming yourself or your baby
• A lack of sleep
• Feeling worthless and incompetent
• Feelings of sadness and despair
• Losing interest in daily activities
• Excessive crying
• Avoiding friends and family
• Loss of appetite or eating more than normal
• Severe anxiety and panic attacks
• Thoughts of suicide

All new mothers have to endure a period of sleep deprivation, exhaustion and frayed nerves in the early days after childbirth.  Fragile emotions that can give way to crying jags are also common.

There is also a much more serious form of this disorder called postpartum psychosis. This involves acts of self-harm and requires immediate treatment.

However, when these feelings persist (or get worse), it’s time to seek help.

Do I Have Postpartum Depression? The Symptoms of PPD

Again, only a trained professional can give you a diagnosis of postpartum depression. That said, there are some questions you can ask yourself for possible insights:

• Have I been feeling constantly sad, hopeless or overwhelmed for more than two weeks?
• Am I having trouble sleeping even when I feel exhausted?
• Do I feel disconnected from my baby, my family or the people around me?
• Have I lost interest in doing things I used to enjoy?
• Do I find myself feeling guilty, anxious or irritable when there’s no cause?
• Are these feelings making day-to-day functioning difficult for me?

If you find yourself answering “yes” to at least two of these questions, it might be time to ask for help.

Who Gets Postpartum Depression?

According to the Cleveland Clinic, around one in seven new moms experiences postpartum depression, or PPD. However, the clinic also warns that a person’s risk of developing this disorder increases by 30 percent during each pregnancy.

Can Men Get Postpartum Depression?

Here’s another fact about postpartum depression: men can experience it as well. According to the Mayo Clinic, fathers who have a greater risk of experiencing PPD tend to be:

• Young
• Struggling with depression and/or relationship problems
• Experiencing financial problems

In men, this condition is often called paternal postpartum depression.

What Causes Postpartum Depression?

As is the case with other mental health disorders, it’s not known if there is a single cause of postpartum depression (PPD). However, multiple risk factors can contribute to it, such as:

Chemical Changes

The hormonal changes many women experience after giving birth can contribute to PPD.

Stress

Motherhood is often very stressful, especially if it’s your first time. Also, having a baby that is hard to comfort, has irregular sleeping and eating habits, has special needs, or has other challenges can also cause stress that leads to PPD.

Environmental Challenges

Environmental challenges can play a large role in how PPD develops. They can include:

• Financial hardships
• Isolation
• Experiencing the death of a loved one or family problems
• A lack of social support

How Can I Help a Loved One with Postpartum Depression?

Offering support to a partner, spouse or friend with postpartum depression can make a huge difference in their lives. You can’t really “fix” PPD on your own…but simply being there for them can help them find stability and compassion.

Validation and Empathy

PPD is a mental health disorder that makes people feel guilty and judged. By validating their emotions and showing empathy, you can make PPD a little easier for them. Try saying:

• “You’re not alone in this.”
• “This isn’t your fault, and what you’re feeling is real.”
• “I’m here with and for you, and I’d never judge you.”

Offer Help

Depression can make the simplest tasks feel impossible. A great way to help your loved one is by offering practical support. It’s great to say things like “Hey, let me know if you need anything,” but sometimes doing specific things is even better.

Try offering to:

• Watch the baby while they sleep or take care of personal things like showering
• Prepare meals
• Do the laundry and/or dishes
• Run errands
• Sit with them during feedings

These smaller acts can give your loved one some needed breathing room and make them feel much less isolated.

Help Them Rest

If there’s one thing that can make PDD worse, it’s not getting enough sleep. Offer to handle early-morning feedings and changes, take a night shift, and help them create quiet times for naps or just unwinding.

Suggest Professional Help

Don’t try to diagnose or “fix” your loved one. Instead, gently suggest they find help. If they let you, offer to participate in it, like watching the baby when they’re in a session.

Keep Your Cup Full

It’s stressful watching someone struggle with PDD. Remember to take care of yourself, too – get regular meals, try to get regular sleep and so on.

What Happens if Postpartum Depression Isn’t Treated?

Put simply, the symptoms of postpartum depression get worse. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) warns that some people report having high levels of depression for three years after giving birth. Worse, this can lead to an increased risk of substance abuse as well as self-harm, both serious health problems.

Unfortunately, postpartum depression can also have an effect on the baby. Depression can affect bonding, which in turn can lead to problems with forming healthy attachments. Babies can become more irritable and harder to calm due to stress responses. Finally, untreated postpartum depression appears to have an impact on a baby’s social and cognitive development.

Fortunately, postpartum depression is treatable – even if it doesn’t seem to respond to traditional forms of treatment. If antidepressants fail to produce relief from postpartum depression symptoms, or if the mother does not feel comfortable taking them while breastfeeding, there is another excellent treatment option.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for postpartum depression is a safe and effective alternative treatment option that requires no sedation or medication.  You are fully alert during the treatment sessions and can return home to resume regular activities following the sessions, with no downtime needed.

Get Help for Postpartum Depression Today

Anew Era TMS & Psychiatry specializes in treating postpartum depression and other disorders using TMS technology.  Our compassionate TMS professionals understand the fragile emotional state new mothers might be in, and are here to help you overcome postpartum depression.

For more information about TMS for postpartum depression, please contact Anew Era TMS & Psychiatry today at (855) 312-0778.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Postpartum Depression?

Postpartum depression is an often-serious form of depression experienced by new mothers after they give birth.

What Are the Symptoms of Postpartum Depression?

Postpartum depression symptoms resemble those of other forms of depression: changes in sleeping patterns, anxiety, feelings of deep sadness, mood swings, and, in severe cases, thoughts of self-harm or harming one’s baby.

What Makes Postpartum Depression Different from the “Baby Blues”?

The symptoms of postpartum depression are often more severe and last much longer than those of the “baby blues.”

I Feel Anxious More than Sad; Is This Postpartum Depression?

Yes. Everyone experiences postpartum depression differently; some people feel anxious all the time rather than sadness.

Does TMS Therapy Hurt?

While there are some physical sensations from TMS therapy – some people report feelings a tingling or tapping sensation on their scalp – TMS is painless and requires no anesthesia.