Perinatal Anxiety – Common But Not Frequently Treated
If you experience anxiety while you are pregnant or after giving birth, this may be called:
- prenatal or antenatal anxiety – while you are pregnant
- postnatal anxiety – during roughly the first year after giving birth
- perinatal anxiety – any time from becoming pregnant to around a year after giving birth
Causes of anxiety during pregnancy
Some women experience a decrease in their symptoms during pregnancy, but your anxiety may get worse. After all, not everything that makes you feel anxious is under your control. Hormonal changes during pregnancy may affect the chemicals in your brain. This can cause anxiety.
Signs and symptoms of perinatal anxiety
These are some of the common signs and symptoms of perinatal anxiety:
Effects on your body
The common effects of perinatal anxiety on your body include:
- a churning feeling in your stomach
- feeling light-headed or dizzy
- pins and needles
- feeling restless or unable to sit still
- headaches, backache or other aches and pains
- faster breathing
- a fast, thumping or irregular heartbeat
- sweating or hot flushes
- finding it hard to sleep, even when you have the chance
- grinding your teeth, especially at night
- nausea (feeling sick)
- needing the toilet more or less often
- changes in your sex drive
- having panic attacks
Effects on your mind
The common effects of perinatal anxiety on your mind include:
- feeling tense, nervous or unable to relax
- having a sense of dread, or fearing the worst
- feeling like the world is speeding up or slowing down
- feeling like other people can see you’re anxious and are looking at you
- feeling like you can’t stop worrying, or that bad things will happen if you stop worrying
- worrying about anxiety itself, for example worrying about when panic attacks might happen
- wanting lots of reassurance from other people or worrying that people are angry or upset with you
- worrying that you’re losing touch with reality
- worrying a lot about things that might happen in the future
- rumination – thinking a lot about bad experiences, or thinking over a situation again and again
- depersonalisation – feeling disconnected from your mind or body, or like you’re watching someone else (this is a type of dissociation)
- derealisation – feeling disconnected from the world around you, or like the world isn’t real (this is a type of dissociation)
Self-care
The following self-care tips may also be helpful:
- Reduce sources of stress: For example, a person could try scheduling their daily activities on an hourly basis. This makes an overwhelming day feel more manageable, while studies show, it may help treat anxiety and depression symptoms.
- Follow a nutritious diet: Try to eat a balanced diet. A person may also wish to limit their intake of caffeine and sugar, which can make anxiety worse.
- Exercise regularly: Research indicates that physical activity can reduce anxiety.
- Get enough sleep: Try going to bed and waking up at consistent times. Use relaxation techniques, such as guided breathing, to help ease anxiety before bedtime.
- Perform relaxation techniques: Perform deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and grounding techniques.
- Take part in activities: Try adding enjoyable activities into your day, such as calling a friend or reading a book.
- Take up journaling: Writing can help reduce anxiety and uncover people’s fears and anxiety triggers. It can also be helpful to bring the journal to therapy.
- Self-empowerment: This can help ease a person’s anxiety – often, learning more about a situation is empowering, and it may reduce symptoms.
While anxiety during and after pregnancy is common, treatment can benefit pregnant individuals. Many medications can help, and therapy is another effective option, particularly for mild-to-moderate anxiety. Other coping strategies, such as mindfulness and self-care, can also help people manage their anxiety symptoms.
Those experiencing perinatal anxiety may need to speak with a doctor or mental health professional who can provide appropriate support and treatment.
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