--- title: Antidepressants During Pregnancy May Affect Fetal Brain description: A new study looks at how antidepressants that women take while pregnant may affect their babies’ brains canonical: https://time.com/5231462/antidepressants-during-pregnancy-fetal-brain-changes/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-04-09T15:00:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:54:09.871Z article:section: Health og:title: Taking Anti-Depressants During Pregnancy May Lead to Fetal Brain Changes og:description: A new study looks at how anti-depressants that women take while pregnant may affect their babies' brains og:url: https://time.com/5231462/antidepressants-during-pregnancy-fetal-brain-changes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Taking Anti-Depressants During Pregnancy May Lead to Fetal Brain Changes twitter:description: A new study looks at how anti-depressants that women take while pregnant may affect their babies' brains twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Taking Antidepressants During Pregnancy May Lead to Fetal Brain Changes > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 9, 2018 3:00 PM UTC  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent Apr 9, 2018 3:00 PM UTC There’s a growing and confusing group of studies looking at the effect of anti-depressants during pregnancy. Some research suggests that the drugs are linked to an increased risk of miscarriage, while other studies focus on the implications for the developing baby (including [possible birth defects](http://time.com/3949540/antidepressants-pregnancy-risks/) and an increased risk of autism), while other studies [questioned such associations](http://time.com/4743467/antidepressants-pregnancy-autism/). So it’s not surprising that doctors and expectant moms struggle with weighing the benefits of treating the mother’s depression with an incomplete understanding of the risks involved. In the latest study to address the subject, researchers led by Claudia Lugo-Candelas, a post-doctoral research fellow at Columbia University, added to that knowledge by taking pictures of the brains of 98 babies about a month after they were born. Some of the infants’ mothers had depression, and were being treated with [anti-depressants](http://time.com/5169013/antidepressants-more-effective-placebo-treating-depression/) known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), while others with depression were not treated. A group of mothers who were not affected by depression were also involved. In the [study, published in _JAMA Pediatrics_](http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2017.5227), among the mother-baby pairings, babies whose moms were taking SSRIs showed greater brain volumes in areas associated with emotions and processing emotions, as well as higher connections between these regions, compared to babies whose mothers were either not treated for their depression or were not experiencing depression. The brain regions involved, called the amygdala and insular cortex, are generally the hub of the strongest feelings, including fear and motivation, and integrally involved in mood. While it’s not clear what having more robust volumes of cells and connections in this area means, previous studies might provide some clues. Other research showed, for example, that older children and adults with anxiety disorders and depression showed similar increases in so-called grey matter volume in these emotional centers, as well as increased connections between nerve cells populating these areas. Previous research also showed that changes in levels of the brain chemical serotonin, known to be involved in mood, and which is the key element of SSRIs, can affect amygdala development as well. The changes caused by prenatal exposure to SSRIs, therefore, might contribute to changes in a developing baby’s sensitivity to serotonin and ability to respond to the brain chemical. Further studies will likely investigate that possibility. “Hopefully these results highlight the fact that something could be going on here,” says Lugo-Candelas. “They point to the fact that there is a signal — we don’t know what it means, or don’t know how long it might last. But we know it’s worth studying.” She also points out that all of the babies born to mothers taking SSRIs were healthy, and the results do not suggest that any woman taking SSRIs to treat depression will end up having a baby with anxiety disorders or depression. As women taking anti-depressants consider getting pregnant, they should discuss with their doctors whether continuing treatment is the best option for them, or if they should consider other alternatives. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5231462/antidepressants-during-pregnancy-fetal-brain-changes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5231462/antidepressants-during-pregnancy-fetal-brain-changes/"},"headline":"Taking Antidepressants During Pregnancy May Lead to Fetal Brain Changes","datePublished":"2018-04-09T15:00:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:54:09.871Z","description":"A new study looks at how antidepressants that women take while pregnant may affect their babies’ brains","url":"https://time.com/5231462/antidepressants-during-pregnancy-fetal-brain-changes/","keywords":["Brain","Reproductive Health","Antidepressants","ssris"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/brain/","name":"Brain"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5231462/antidepressants-during-pregnancy-fetal-brain-changes/","name":"Taking Antidepressants During Pregnancy May Lead to Fetal Brain Changes"}}]}] ```