Treating Maternal Depression: Considerations for the Well-Being of the Mother and Child

Abstract

Maternal depression is a serious mental illness that not only affects the health of the mother but also affects the fetus and child. Treatment with antidepressants (especially serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SRIs]) is common in depressed pregnant women and mothers but bears its own risk for the progeny. Due to a lack of research on the long-term consequences of each condition (i.e., untreated vs. treated depression), the question remains: whether a depressed women should take antidepressant medication during pregnancy and the postpartum. This article reviews the current state of SRI use during the perinatal period and the associated developmental effects of antidepressant medication. Furthermore, it discusses directions for improvement of future research as well as policy implications in regard to human and animal research. Without a better comprehension of the underlying mechanism that induces developmental effects, advising pregnant women and mothers will be difficult.