New Mothers Alpha-Stim

The birth of a child is a major life event that can be filled with excitement, anticipation and joy. However, the transition and adaptation to new demands, roles, responsibilities, and changes in relationships can be stressful, especially for first-time mothers. In addition, new mothers typically encounter physiological changes and struggle with concerns about weight gain, body image, sexuality, and other physical difficulties such as fatigue. These problems may generate or exacerbate stress, lead to an actual or perceived crisis and psychological distress. Psychological distress, defined as depression, anxiety and insomnia, in this study, often increases during the postpartum period and can negatively affect maternal mental health status, maternal and family functioning, and infant-child outcomes. These conditions commonly present as co-morbidities, but are often unrecognized in clinical practice or under-treated as co-morbidities in new mothers. This unrecognized cluster of co-morbidities may lead to psychological distress and subsequently poor outcomes for mothers, their infants and children. Current treatment recommendations for depression, anxiety and insomnia are primarily pharmaceutical or psychotherapy, both of which have limitations related to cost, time involved and ineffectiveness for some women. Consequently, there is a need to examine other treatment approaches including complementary modalities, such as cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES), particularly in light of current evidence that shows the efficacy of early detection, intervention and treatment for pregnant and postpartum women. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the effect of CES on anxiety in new mothers following childbirth. The secondary objectives are to: (1) determine the effects of CES on depression and insomnia; (2) explore the effect of CES on maternal functioning in new mothers following childbirth, and (3) to examine if items 1 \& 2 on the 14 item Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A14) perform well as a screening test for anxiety. Please see the enclosed Instrument Description document for detailed information related to this scale.