Pregnant woman
Pregnant womanReuters

Abortion, even if it is a planned one, can lead to depression in women. Women who suffered from psychological disorders in the past get affected by post abortion stress syndrome (PASS) differently as compared to women who are mentally healthy.

Abortion, irrespective of the reason, can generate mixed feelings, and the prevalence of these feelings for too long can lead to depression. Reasons responsible for PASS are not clearly known, but the disorder may be related to genetic causes. 

Depression can be identified when an individual shows signs such as always feeling low and upset, guilty, tired, and suffers from improper sleep patterns and poor concentration. According to experts, everyone is prone to suffer from mental disorders. In developed nations such as the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, people belonging to the age group of 15 to 44 years are more found to suffer from mental disorders.

According to a study conducted on 500 women by UK researchers since their birth until they turned 30, it was observed that their mental health was poorer after abortion. The researchers analysed the data of these women's pregnancy and mental health history. A 30 percent increase in the risk of mental disorders was observed in the women who faced abortion.This research got published in The British Journal of Psychiatry in November 2008.

It's not necessary that women who suffered abortion will always go through negative emotions like grief, remorse, guilt, loss, stress, etc. Also, women who experience these emotions and face depression are not likely to experience it forever.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is defined as "a state of well-being in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community". WHO stresses that mental health "is not just the absence of mental disorder."

The US is said to have the highest number of mental health patients. People suffering from any sort of mental disorder, including depression, have a negative impact on their personal as well as professional lives, health and it also impacts family and friends negatively.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) based in the US found that approximately 57.7 million Americans, or approximately 26.2 percent of adults, suffer from a mental disorder in a given year.

Though researchers from UK revealed that first time abortions don't affect the mental health much, many women were found to grieve after facing abortion, and it is said to be a natural phenomenon experienced after loss.

These women should be dealt with care and understanding. Women going through this phase should be taken extra care of and one should make sure they have sufficient food and sleep, since doing so would help in pulling them out of this trauma quicker.