In a recent article Published in Journal Watch Women’s Health April 26, 2007, Dr. Claudio N. Soares, MD, PhD puts forth a pretty good argument that antidepressants are not teratogenic so therefor are perfectly safe for use by women during pregnancy. Furthermore, he rightfully shows that women who are not treated posed a greater risk to healthy fetus development. Lest you think I am writing a pro-pharmaceutical article, read on.
According to Wikipedia, Teratogenesis is a medical term, literally meaning monster-birth, which derives from teratology, the study of the frequency, causation, and development of congenital malformations—misleadingly called birth defects. The problem with Dr. Soares’s article, which I have attached in a word file, is that they fail to realize how many other safer and alternative methods are available. In my work with physicians around the world, I find simple things like amino acid therapy, building up nutrient levels, electrolytes and other safe alternatives help women fight depression and give the developing baby a better start in life than have to be bathed in SSRIs and other antidepressant drugs.
My other issue is, how do we know whether an epigenetic effect isn’t happening? The answer is we don’t. We might not see any blatant effects on children borne of mothers on antidepressants (maybe we are but the researchers are chosing to ignore them), but a child of a person whose mother took antidepressants while they were in fetal development may show up with teratogenic effects. Better yet, it would be prudent for a women wanting children to get into a CAM doctor (Complimentary and Alternative Medicine) who can help wean them off antidepressants and on a healthy regime. Your baby and their progeny will thank you.