Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center recently hosted a special lecture on the subject: “Preventive Treatment for Postnatal Depression – Prediction and Preventive Therapy – A Presentation.”
At the invitation of the Clinical Research Department at Mayanei Hayeshua, the Lev Academic Center (JCT), presented the results of a groundbreaking and encouragingly hopeful study on the painful subject of postnatal depression. Dr. Anna Landsman, who conducted the study, summarized its results for those present: There is a way to predict and even prevent postnatal depression.
At a special conference for the staff of Mayanei Hayeshua’s Mental Health Center and other departments, Dr. Anna Landsman from the Lev Academic Center, gave a lecture on the molecular mechanism of postnatal depression. The compelling lecture revealed that it is possible to detect women who are at high risk of developing postnatal depression by examining their biological disposition even prior to childbirth. Dr. Landsman explained that as part of the study a large number of women had been asked to undergo testing prior to childbirth and all the women who were diagnosed to have a genetic predisposition to developing postnatal depression did indeed evidence this condition following childbirth. The conclusion of the study was that this discovery can be developed factually and that its onset might even be prevented by preemptive therapy.
Mayanei Hayeshua ranks third in the country in the number of births, its good name having been established by its high professional standards, its character as a community hospital which adapts to the Torah and mitzvot-observant community, and the high standard of hospitalization and accommodation conditions for birthing mothers. As such it encounters many women who may reach postnatal depression. Foreknowledge and the ability to predict this will help identify and treat it.
All of the hospital’s professional staff are trained, aware and sensitive to cases of postnatal depression, providing optimal care and guidance throughout the birthing experience and thereafter.
It should be noted that the Mayanei Hayeshua, recently inaugurated a clinical research department under the direction of Dr. Or Friedman. This department will coordinate under one roof, all the many research studies already conducted at the hospital, and in parallel, will continue to work to develop and promote many more research projects.
The lecture was given as part of the collaboration between Mayanei Hayeshua and the Lev Academic Center on the subject of research development. Two other representatives from JCT, Dr. Adi Finkelstein and Dr. Ahuva Spitz also participated.
