The rising threat of unqualified influencers to women and families
Dr Bavi Vythilingum
Image: Supplied
WOMEN’S physical and emotional wellbeing forms the cornerstone of healthy communities. Despite significant advances in medical science, a troubling global trend is emerging that threatens this foundation and undermines the professional care many women rely on.
Why women’s health matters to all of us
Women’s health is everybody’s health, and when women and girls are well supported, mental wellbeing improves across families and society. When a mother, partner, or daughter is struggling, it has a ripple effect on the whole family’s happiness and stability.
Women experience additional mental health burdens at every stage of life that men cannot fully empathise with, and traditionally girls and women have had to bear significant struggles in silence.
Today, we have empirical evidence of the abrupt hormonal and physical changes that occur when girls start menstruating, during pregnancy, through the childbearing years to perimenopause, menopause and into our senior years. These transitional phases may lead to times of heightened mental health risk which need to be managed for affected women.
The dangers of misinformation in women’s healthcare
A global tidal wave of unqualified and biased misinformation is undermining evidence-based treatment options available to women. This is no longer restricted to the fringe views of influencers on social media, as recently demonstrated in the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel on the use of SSRI antidepressants during pregnancy.
With South African women already at higher risk than our global counterparts for perinatal depression, it is especially concerning that the views of people with no medical background are going viral. Rising populist sentiments are displacing informed medical perspectives in the United States and are receiving attention from unsuspecting women here at home too.
As the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ACOG) pointed out in response to the FDA panel’s views on the use of SSRIs during pregnancy, it is dangerous to minimise the importance of mental health for women in pregnancy and postpartum – and indeed at any stage of life.
The crucial role of medical expertise
Every woman has the right to make an informed decision about whether medication is right for her, and the risks and benefits of psychiatric medicines must always be discussed with the prescribing clinician. It is disconcerting, however, when people take the advice of social media influencers and conspiracy theorists over established medical science when their lives and the wellbeing of their children may be at stake.
As just one example, perinatal depression can have devastating consequences for both mother and baby, including emotional suffering, difficulty bonding with her baby and, at its worst, thoughts or acts of self-harm and suicide. In terms of the baby’s health, depression during pregnancy is associated with risks of high blood pressure, preterm delivery, and babies not growing and developing as well as they should.
Untreated postnatal depression is one of the biggest risk factors for mental illness in the affected mother’s children, particularly as they become young adults, and can have marked effects on the development of the child.
Dr Bavi Vythilingum – psychiatrist practising at Netcare Akeso Kenilworth. The views expressed are her own and does not necessarily reflect those of the Sunday Tribune or IOL.