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The recent focus on postpartum depression may have obscured the fact that approximately 10% of women suffer from clinical depression during pregnancy. Depression can affect appetite, sleep, interest, energy, and mood -- thereby negatively affecting the progress and outcome of pregnancy. Depression most often is treated with medication, and although recent findings suggest that use of low-dose SSRIs during pregnancy is safe (Journal Watch Women's Health May 20 2003), concerns remain about the medications' effects on the fetus. These investigators evaluated the efficacy of an alternative to medication: interpersonal psychotherapy, a highly structured treatment approach that focuses on interpersonal relationships.
Fifty depressed pregnant women…