The time before the impending arrival of your little one may be filled with a mixed bag of great joy, stress, fatigue and anxiety. The value and development of a strong social and emotional support system during your pregnancy may ultimately provide the key to get you through the rough, bumpy moments ahead, marking a healthy new beginning for yourself, your spouse and your baby-to-be.

Your primary care provider, childbirth educator or hospital social worker can place you in contact with support systems in your area. "Prenatal groups and childbirth classes can provide both support and a much needed social outlet for both pregnant women and their partners," says Lesli A. Johnson, a licensed marriage and family therapist and executive supervisor of the Maple Center Crisis Response Team in Beverly Hills, Calif. "The shared experience provides an immediate way to bond. Additionally, members of these groups often stay in touch after the births of their children and continue to cultivate the friendships. They can talk with each other and normalize their experience of becoming new parents, alleviating the common stressors of having a baby at home and provide an understanding ear."

Social support for expectant women also can be found right in their own backgrounds, as friends, family and, most important, their spouse/partner can play an important role in assisting Mom-to-be with her emotional and physical needs.

"Both partners are undoubtedly thinking about the future of their family system and the well-being of their unborn child," says Johnson. "This can be a time when a relationship can be strengthened as both partners keep lines of communication open about their feelings, concerns and even fears." This is especially true for women who are pregnant for the first time. Aside from the physical changes they are experiencing, women are also going through tremendous emotional and hormonal changes.

Published research has suggested that some expectant women may be susceptible to developing emotional and psychiatric conditions, including panic and obsessive compulsive disorders, as well as depression, during and after pregnancy.

Recent research suggests that of the approximately 12 million American women diagnosed with clinical depression each year, between 10 to 15 percent of these cases are diagnosed with depression during pregnancy, says the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), based in Arlington, Va. NAMI also estimates that there is a three-fold increase in risk for developing a depressive disorder during or following pregnancy.

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