Credit: Getty Images What parts of the brain does clinical depression affect?
Numerous studies that focused on gray and white matter have found significant brain region alterations in major depressive disorder patients, such as in the frontal lobe, hippocampus, temporal lobe, thalamus, striatum, and amygdala.
How long does postpartum brain fog last?
Is Mom Brain real? Understanding and coping with postpartum brain fog You’ve likely heard of Mom Brain or “momnesia.” Sometimes it can be funny, like accidentally putting the milk in the pantry and the cereal in the fridge. Sometimes it can be frustrating, like forgetting a word or where you parked.
And other times it can be downright unsettling, like feeling incompetent, inadequate and as if you’ll never rebound. The good news is that while the symptoms of Mom Brain—memory loss, brain fog and lack of concentration—are an annoying obstacle to everyday life, it is not typically a concern. Kristina Jones, MD, OBGYN on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center and mom of three, says that “while it’s a well-known term, it’s not a medically official diagnosis.” But that doesn’t mean it’s not wildly common.
Dr. Jones estimates that between 50% to 80% of postpartum patients experience Mom Brain. She said most experts agree that it typically lasts two to four months postpartum but as a mother herself is skeptical of that timeframe. “Environmental factors play a big role,” Dr.
- Jones said.
- A woman may be using her baseline cognitive functioning capacity from day to day.
- Then you add in a child, so your multitasking demands immediately increase.
- A woman may not only be coping with lack of sleep from the newborn schedule and physical changes of her body, but also stress from resuming work responsibilities, among other stressors.
As women shift priority to their child, it is easy to forgot to take care of themselves. For some women, the shift in concentration or memory is going to last longer than two months”. There are many factors that contribute to the Mom Brain phenomenon. Let’s dive into a few of those factors—and what you can do to combat them.
Does PPD affect memory?
Women often expect that pregnancy and the birth of a baby automatically produces exhilaration and joy and believe that the childbearing years should be the happiest time in their lives. In truth, it is one of the most stressful and anxiety producing periods in the life cycle of a family.
As many as 10% of women even experience unexpected depressed or anxious mood during their pregnancies and more than half of the women who give birth each year experience some negative change in their mental health in the early weeks following the birth. For 15% of those women, the period following childbirth becomes a nightmare as they experience sleeplessness, confusion, memory loss, and anxiety during the already stressful adjustment to motherhood.
New mothers are especially vulnerable to depression anytime within the first year postpartum. Along with the overwhelming demands of caring for an infant comes a loss of time with one’s spouse, the loss of adult friendships, and a loss of freedom and familiar routine.
