App to help mums shake off depression and anxiety

Dr Carrie Barber wishes she had the tools to calm her own anxiety during pregnancy, traumatised by a pre-term labour after two miscarriages.

The psychologist remembers feeling like a failed mother and blaming herself even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.

And she is not alone. Around 13 per cent of New Zealand mothers – most of whom don’t qualify for mental health services – have reported experiencing similar dark thoughts.

The University of Waikato researcher’s two children are now in their 20s, but those memories of lying in hospital feeling alone have propelled Barber, years on, to create an app for other women who may feel the same.

She said there are plenty of resources out there about the physical changes of pregnancy and taking care of the baby but ‘‘very little about taking care of your emotional health during that transition’’.

Barber first developed the app, Positive Pregnancy, in 2017, and piloted it with a group of mothers. Now, with seed funding from the university’s commercial arm, WaikatoLink, a redesigned and updated version has been launched.

She said Positive Pregnancy is aimed at all woman but particularly woman who ‘‘wouldn’t necessarily qualify for formal mental health services’’ or people who want support while they are waiting to be seen. While the app isn’t intended by itself as treatment for clinical depression or anxiety, Barber hopes it will help provide support to mental health services that are stretched thin. It contains many functions that can be tailored to the individual, such as providing breath techniques for mothers, a gratitude log and a list of services that might be beneficial.

It also helps mothers understand what triggers their stress and what their level of stress is, whether it’s typical or particularly high. It then provides links to information about the particular stressor and offers techniques to lower stress levels, like relaxation exercises or body scanning exercises.

‘‘For postnatal depression, 13 per cent of women experience significant depression and, if you include the range of anxiety and depression, at least 20 per cent have that experience and similar numbers during pregnancy. Whether it’s a full-blown diagnosis or just some discomfort and doubt, it’s important that mothers know how to deal with it, so it doesn’t snowball into something worse.’’