Post-Pregnancy Psychiatric Disorders Need Attention By Dewi Mohd Sofri

Bandar Seri Begawan -A Senior lecturer in neuroscience at Universiti Brunei Darussalam's Institute of Medicine wants to conduct more research on postpartum psychiatric disorders (PPD) and nuerodegeneration in the sultanate.

During a recent open lecture, Dr OduolaAbiola said this is part of his commitment to establishing a world-class brain research cet re at the institute.

His team of researchers include Dr Mas Rina Wati Abdul Hamid, IM acting dean, lecturer Dr Dk Nurolaini Pg Md Kifli and Dr Abang Bennet, a specialist psychiatrist at Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Hospital. The team also has international collaborators in the UK and Canada.

In his presentation, Dr Abiola said that every woman going through childbirth has the propensity to develop postpartum psychiatric disorders (PPD) that occur a few days after delivery and this could last for a week on average, depending on the type of disorder.

These disorders, he said, could affect any woman regardless of where she lives or her nationality. He said that the level of female circulating gonadal steroids in the form of oestrogen and progesterone phenomenally increases during pregnancy and drops drastically shortly after childbirth. These hormones cross the blood brain barrier causing significant alterations in the activities of the brain.

In his lecture, "The mother, the child and their brains: Understanding the role of sex steroids in disorders of the brain," held at UBD's Chancellor Hall, Dr Abiola touched on the three main PPDs, namely postpartum blues also known as maternity blues, postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis.

"About 80 per cent of new mothers may develop maternity blues, which is self limiting. They do not need to be hospitalised and do not even need any medication as the duration is very short. Usually by the 10th or 11th day after childbirth, the feelings will disappear," said Dr Abiola.

Although maternity blues is not particularly a serious condition, it can be potentially dangerous as it may lead to more serious mood disorders during this period most especially postpartum psychosis.

"In extreme forms of postpartum psychosis, mothers may go to the extent of killing their own new infants," the doctor pointed out.

PPDs are also linked to the individual's genetic make-up. New mothers, with a family or personal history of psychiatric illnesses are especially more at risk of developing these disorders.

There have been some suggestions for mothers to choose to plan and space out their pregnancies. "Again, there are no hard evidence that this method really works," he said.

The lecture also talked about neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases display gender differences in disease susceptibility.

These types of diseases, which result in the progressive loss of neurologic functions, make sex steroid hormones obvious for candidates in their study to understand the causes as well as possible cures. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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