Should psychiatrists and psychologists be more careful about the possible side effects of antidepressants? Yes, according to Sampsa Vanhatalo, neurologist and pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of the University of Helsinki (Finland), and director of a study on this question. In his opinion, preventive medication for the anxiety and depression of the expectant mother during pregnancy should be rigorously examined. Non-pharmacological treatment should be tried first .
The research carried out in Helsinki is the first to study the effects of antidepressants known as SRIs or serotonin reuptake inhibitors on the brain activity of newborns, separating them from other consequences of postnatal development, such as the influence of the environment and Changes in the mother-child relationship due to postpartum depression . “We have detected many changes in the brain activity of these newborns. Since they do not correspond to the psychiatric symptoms of the mother, we think that they are a side effect of the treatment taken by her during pregnancy,” says Vanhatalo.
Depression and anxiety are often treated with drugs that affect serotonin metabolism in the brain . These are well-tolerated drugs and considered safe because they do not cause malformations. 5% of pregnant women take them. However, animal studies reveal that they can produce microscopic changes in the brain structure of the fetus and alter the neural network. An effect that was already known in human newborns is the so-called SRI syndrome , which produces, among other symptoms, respiratory problems in the first days of life. In addition, another recent study also done in Finland, at the Universities of Helsinki and Turku, showed that the intake of SRI antidepressants increased the risk of childhood depression.
In the present study conducted by Vanhatalo, 22 mothers who took SRI antidepressants and 62 who did not take medication participated. The neurological and behavioral response of the babies exposed to the drugs showed only very small differences, but the same did not occur with the electrical activity of the brain, in which there were notable divergences. In children whose mothers had taken drugs during pregnancy, communication between the two cerebral hemispheres was more disorganized and the synchronization between cortical rhythms was weaker.
