Postpartum Depression is a serious condition that can cause new mothers (and sometimes even fathers) to experience extreme depression, often accompanied by suicidal ideations, and may even lead the mother to cause serious harm to the newborn as well. Postpartum depression is not a character flaw or weakness. It is recognized by World Health Organization (WHO) as a serious pathological condition that is a complication of childbirth. Numerous recorded instances are evidence of just how serious the condition can be. One such case was an event on 12th December 2001, where a woman named Paula Thompson attempted to drown her twins.
Even though the condition is categorized as a pathological one by the WHO, it’s not widely recognized especially in 3rd world countries where the affected is generally seen as a disturbed person and not given the proper treatment. Therefore, it is extremely important that we describe and breakdown what postpartum depression is and how it can be managed.
Understanding Postpartum Depression
Karen Kleiman, M.S.W., founder and director of the Postpartum Stress Center in Philadelphia explains how many women do not even recognize when they are suffering from the disorder by saying, “Having grown up expecting motherhood to be one of the best times of life, many women suffer alone, feeling miserable but unaware that postpartum mood disorders have a name.”
Postpartum depression is characterized by an absence of normal emotions one would expect after the birth of a baby such as joy and excitement coupled with, well let’s be fair, a splash of anxiety. In fact, the disorder portrays an opposite emotion. The affected person is extremely depressed and there’s an urge to cause damage to their own self or the newborn. This is an extremely common disorder with 1 out of 9 women experiencing the said symptoms. In Pakistan, the prevalence rate is as high as 28% to 63% with no other Asian country coming close. Sometimes patients experience Baby Blues which is almost the same condition as Postpartum Depression but differing in both intensity and duration, with the former being shorter: typically 2 weeks.
Symptoms
Symptoms usually develop within the first few weeks after giving birth, but may begin earlier or later, up to a year after birth.
Signs and symptoms may include:
- Depression
- Severe mood swings
- Excessive crying
- Difficulty bonding with your baby
- Withdrawing from family and friends
- Loss of appetite or overeating
- Insomnia or too much sleep
- Overwhelming fatigue or loss of energy
- Reduced interest and pleasure in everyday activities
- Intense irritability and anger
- Fear of not being a good mother
- Hopelessness
- Feeling worthless
- Diminished ability to think clearly
- Restlessness
- Severe anxiety and panic attacks
- Thoughts of harming yourself or your baby
- Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide
Causes
There’s no single cause attributed to postpartum depression. Physical and emotional issues may play a role.
After childbirth, a dramatic drop in hormones may be one cause. Estrogen, Progesterone, and some Thyroid hormones drop significantly after child birth and may cause these symptoms.
Sleep deprivation and tiredness may combine to make the patient experience a variety of symptoms such as anxiety, being overwhelmed, and fatigue.
The risk for this disorder increases significantly if the patient has one or more of these risk factors:
- A history of depression, either during pregnancy or at other times
- Having bipolar disorder
- Postpartum depression after a previous pregnancy
- Family members who’ve had depression or other mood disorders
- Experienced stressful events during the past year
- The baby having health problems or other special needs
- having twins, triplets or other multiple births
- Difficulty breast-feeding
- Stressful marriage
- Financial problems
- Unplanned pregnancy
Who Does It Effect Other Than The Mom?
Christina Hibbert, the founder of Arizona Postpartum Wellness Coalition, says, “It doesn’t just affect moms. It’s a familial disease.” This statement is true because it has been found that around 10% of new fathers go through some degree of postpartum depression.
The disease can affect everyone the mother has to interact with and, thus, is a nuance to the entire family as a whole.
What Can You Do To Prevent It From Happening?
Apart from women being completely unaware of the existence of the disorder, another reason that they do not seek help for it is that there is a massive stigma surrounding postpartum depression. One of the few things that often help in battling the disorder is social support but in a country like Pakistan, women afflicted with postpartum depression do not often find the support that they need. In Pakistani culture, there is immense pressure on the woman to be the perfect mother and not to show any sort of frailty or fault in any case. This immense pressure combined with the other factors leads to women never seeking help for their disorder, no matter how hard it gets for them. The label of being a “bad mother” is easily slapped on women which makes postpartum depression worse for them.
To eliminate this stigma, there is a need for a widespread education on problems like these for everyone so that no woman can be denied of her right to treatment in situations like these. Counselling, support groups, regular visits to the doctor can help manage the symptoms. In some cases doctors may even prescribe anti-depressants.
Postpartum depression is not an easy disorder to battle, but it is possible to do so with the help of clinical help, self-care, a strong support system, and continuous effort of not only the individual but people related to them. There are hospitals, clinics, and counselors available in every country that offer treatment for postpartum depression, though the accessibility and facilities might differ from region to region. It is imperative that the public becomes aware of this disorder as it not only affects the particular mother, father or child, but it also eventually impacts the whole of society.
