Emotional Stress


Effects of Emotional Stress in Pregnancy

Stress in Pregnancy May Affect Fetus:

Lead author Dr. Pampa Sarkar said: "We are all a product of our developmental history. One of the times when we are most susceptible to the influences of our surrounding environment is when we are developing as a fetus in our mother's womb. Our research shows that the fetus is exposed to cortisol in the maternal blood, and we also demonstrated that at and above 17 weeks, the cortisol in amniotic fluid had a strong positive relationship with cortisol in maternal blood. We found that the strength of this correlation became stronger with increasing gestational age.
www.anxietyinsights.info/stress_in_pregnancy_may_affect_the_fetus.htm

Stress level and BP affect Birth Weight:

The findings suggest stress and high blood pressure may affect fetal growth in a number of ways — by constricting blood flow to the uterus, for example, or through effects on hormone levels or immune system function. Thus, pregnant women with both high blood pressure and chronic stress should be monitored more closely.
www.doctorndtv.com/news/detailnews.asp?id=3033

Prenatal Stress Negatively Affects Baby

Wadhwa says these findings are "suggestive that stress during pregnancy is almost a toxin to fetal brain development." He adds that "maternal stress levels during pregnancy are highly predictive of less desirable ends of the scales" of infant neurodevelopment.
www.personalmd.com/news/a1998033014.shtml

Fetus to Mom: You're Stressing Me Out!

Stress is an example of how a fetus responds to stimuli in the womb and adapts physiologically. "When the mother is stressed, several biological changes occur, including elevation of stress hormones and increased likelihood of intrauterine infection," Dr. Wadhwa says. "The fetus builds itself permanently to deal with this kind of high-stress environment, and once it's born may be at greater risk for a whole bunch of stress-related pathologies."

"We measure a woman's blood pressure, her uterine size, listen to the baby's heart tones, but no one asks how things are going with her life." … But what may be equally important are a woman's support network and providing enough information about prenatal care and the pregnancy to ward off worries. www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51730

Maternal antenatal anxiety and children's behavioural/emotional problems at 4 years

There could be a direct effect of maternal mood on foetal brain development, which affects the behavioural development of the child. http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/180/6/502

Maternal stress during pregnancy predicts cognitive ability and fearfulness in infancy.

These findings strengthen previous research that suggests that fetal programming can be important for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric outcomes. They imply that the mechanisms by which mental development and fearfulness are affected are different and that prenatal stress due to relationship strain may warrant particular attention. Read Article Here


Effects of Emotional Stress in Birth:


Can your thought affect your birth?

Excellent article to address the need to overcome fear in pregnancy in preparation for birth:

Keep in mind, that there is no perfect preparation for labor or motherhood. Psychological "readiness" occurs because we are given encouragement and opportunity to address the concerns we have as women who are giving birth and becoming mothers.

Our psychology lives inside our bodies. There is no war of mind over matter here. The mind-body connection is based on a relationship with, rather than control over, our physicality.

Give yourself the opportunity to face your fears. Reflect on the many ways you may be afraid of "losing control." Childbirth, motherhood and life itself cause us to yield to the power of nature. Turning inwards to reflect on your development will help you strengthen your inner resources at the same time you express your specific needs for support from others.

Facing your fears and reaching out for emotional support increases your ability to handle whatever situation lies before you with a sense of calm and well-being. Achieving this state of mind ensures that you have done your part to increase the potential for a smooth and uncomplicated delivery.
www.parentsplace.com/pregnancy/trimester3/qas/0,,239032_114059,00.html

Resource of Articles to Overcome Fear in Birth

Midwifery Today: www.midwiferytoday.com

ICPA Public Resource Site: www.icpa4kids.org/research/pregnancy/natural.htm

Chiropractic role to overcome stress in pregnancy and birth:

  • Reduce nerve interference to allow the body to adapt more efficiently to all stresses
  • Nurture and support the mother’s confidence of normal physiology and how it is enhanced with chiropractic care.
  • Offer education and resources for natural birthing and supportive care providers.

Find a doctor of chiropractic here: www.icpa4kids.org/locator/index.php

 

Imagine Taking A Pill That Would Clear Away Any Feelings Of Guilt And Regret

At the University of California at Irvine, experiments in rats indicate that the brain's hormonal reactions to fear can be inhibited, softening the formation of memories and the emotions they evoke. At New York University, researchers are mastering the means of short-circuiting the very wiring of primal fear. At Columbia University one Nobel laureate's lab has discovered the gene behind a fear-inhibiting protein, uncovering a vision of "fight or flight" at the molecular level. In Puerto Rico, at the Ponce School of Medicine, scientists are discovering ways to help the brain unlearn fear and inhibitions by stimulating it with magnets. And at Harvard University, survivors of car accidents are already swallowing propranolol pills, in the first human trials of that common cardiac drug as a means to nip the effects of trauma in the bud.

New Science Raises the Specter of a World Without Regret   Village Voice January 22 - 28, 2003



Psychiatric Drugs, Placebos and the Downfall of Modern Psychiatry

The drugs interfere with normal social, intellectual and emotional functioning, so many patients want to stop them. But since sudden termination often produces explosion, and gradual reduction - the preferred method - is unavailable, patients find themselves in a catch-22 situation.

Further aggravating this dilemma is the insistence of most psychiatrists that medications be continued indefinitely despite patients' objections. This difference can transform the doctor-patient relationship, which should be a major positive therapeutic force, into one which is adversarial and, therefore, overtly anti-therapeutic.

Many patients believe the drugs have helped them because they improved after starting to take them. But most of whatever improvement occurs - and that improvement is much less with major mental illness today than it was before the drug era - is based on the physician's expectations and the patient's acceptance

How Drugs Destroyed Psychiatry   RedFlagsDaily February 19, 2003



Emotional Stress in Pregnancy may cause Birth Defects

We know that stress alters body physiology and hence no reason this is not transmitted to the foetus via the placenta.....

Pregnancy stress 'causes defects' BBC News Friday, 8 September, 2000



Infant sleep disorders and maternal post-natal depression are serious problems

When an infant is not getting enough sleep, neither is the mother. When a mother is experiencing post natal depression, her emotions may be affecting the infant's ability to sleep.

This 2002 study in BMJ examines this serious, interrelated problem. It fails however to look at other potential causes and tendencies of depression in the mother. The International Cesarean Awareness Network has a wonderful section on postpartum depression. Traumatic delivery is a definite contributing factor to a woman's potential for post partum depression, with c-sections contributing significantly.

In the child, continuous crying due to their experience of birth trauma (both physical and emotional) contributes further to the mother's susceptibility. This ScienceDaily article addresses the long term effects of pain and stress on newborns.

Just another reason for us to care for more pregnant women offering them the potential of a safer, easier birth with chiropractic care and to educate them about their birth options prior to birth

Read more research about chiropractic and sleep disorders in children



Mom's Anxiety Affects Fetus

Mothers who are "stressed out" during pregnancy may be restricting arterial blood flow to their babies, according to a report published in BMJ. The trial which enrolled 100 women found that, "Of the most anxious group, 27% had an increase d resistance index of clinical concern, compared with 4% in the less anxious group." Uterine artery resistance was assessed using Doppler ultrasound. The study's authors respeculated that the restricted blood flow may account for the smaller birth weights seen in babies of anxious mothers.

Teixeira JMA, Fisk, NM, Glover V   Association between maternal anxiety in pregnancy and increased uterine artery resistance index: cohort based study   Brit Med Jour 1999 (Jan 16);   318 (7177):   153-157



Maternal antenatal anxiety and children's behavioural/emotional problems at 4 years

Animal experiments suggest that maternal stress and anxiety during pregnancy have long-term effects on the behaviour of the offspring. Data were collected on multiple antenatal and postnatal assessments of maternal anxiety and depression, antenatal and obstetric risks, psychosocial risks and children's behavioural/emotional problems

Conclusions: There could be a direct effect of maternal mood on foetal brain development, which affects the behavioural development of the child.

THOMAS G. O'CONNOR, PhD   Maternal antenatal anxiety and children's behavioural/ emotional problems at 4 years   British Journal of Psychiatry 2002;   180:   502-508