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Postpartum Depression: The Worst Kept Secret.

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Postpartum Depression: The Worst Kept Secret.

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often times women are not aware they have postpartum depression and they may be confused, frustrated, and stressed. this article give an insight what what postpartum depression can feel and look like.

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Having a baby is one of the happiest times in life, but it can also be one of the saddest.

For most new mothers, the first several days after having a baby is an emotional roller coaster ride. Thrilling moments of happiness and joy are abruptly interrupted by a plunge into moments of depressive symptoms including weeping, anxiety, anger, and sadness. These "baby blues" usually peak in the first two to five days after delivery, and in most women, go away as quickly as they came.

Except sometimes they don't go away.

For some women, depressive symptoms continue well past those first two weeks or develop over the next several months after having a baby.

A recent article by Drs. Stewart and Vigod published in the New England Journal of Medicine explores postpartum depression, this potentially debilitating condition that affects between 6.5% and 12.9% of new mothers.

What causes postpartum depression?

We don't fully understand what causes postpartum depression. It is thought that the abrupt decrease in hormone levels after having a baby can lead to the development of postpartum depression in susceptible women.

We also can't say for sure what makes a woman particularly vulnerable to postpartum depression. We do know that the strongest predictor of postpartum depression is a personal history of a mood disorder or anxiety, especially if present and untreated during pregnancy. In fact, women with a history of depression during pregnancy are seven times more likely to experience significant postpartum depression. Other factors that may contribute to postpartum depression include social stressors including poor family support and financial concern.

Exactly how postpartum depression unfolds is somewhat unpredictable. For most women, the symptoms go away without treatment, but about 20% of women will still have significant depressive symptoms after one year.

Catching postpartum depression quickly

Because postpartum depression affects the health of the woman, her infant, and her entire family, it is very important to screen for postpartum depression risk. Most obstetricians are now implementing some type of screening tool during the postpartum checkup. Screening is very important because studies have shown that many women with postpartum depression are ashamed of their symptoms and are afraid of the social stigma associated with the diagnosis.

Although symptoms of postpartum depression can vary, the typical symptoms include:

sleep disturbances

anxiety

irritability

feeling overwhelmed

preoccupation with baby's health or feeding

Making the diagnosis of postpartum depression is based on more than just the presence of these symptoms. Some of these can be normal, especially after a difficult sleepless night caring for a newborn. It is the intensity of the symptoms and how they affect a woman's ability to adjust and cope with life stressors that are key to making the diagnosis of postpartum depression.

Treating postpartum depression

Drs. Steward and Vigod's article discussed the importance of early treatment and support for women at risk of postpartum depression including those with mild symptoms that don't meet the specific criteria for a formal diagnosis of postpartum depression. Studies have shown that supportive and psychological care right after birth can decrease an at-risk woman's chance of developing postpartum depression. Interventions that decrease feelings of isolation, and provide emotional support are key; they include:

home visits

telephone based peer support

interpersonal therapy

When a formal diagnosis of postpartum depression is made, it is very important to make sure a new mother gets the care she needs. The appropriate treatment is based on the severity of a woman's symptoms and how she responds to the intervention. For postpartum women with mild symptoms the approach is very similar to the prevention strategies for at risk women. These include:

psychological interventions that address support for the new mother

support groups

home visits from a nurse

For women with moderate symptoms or for women with mild symptoms that did not respond to initial intervention, treatment consists of formal psychotherapy alone or in combination with an antidepressant medication. Antidepressants may also be used alone if the woman prefers or if getting to therapy is difficult.

A common concern is whether antidepressant medications are safe while breastfeeding. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the first choice to treat postpartum depression and minimal amounts of the drug are found in breast milk.

Although there are no long-term data regarding the effects of antidepressants on breastfed babies, experts generally agree that women do not need to stop breastfeeding. However, an important point noted by authors of the article is that "clinicians should support women in their choice not to breast feed when difficulties in the breast feeding process, or lack of sleep, are perpetuating depressive symptoms."

The key to the prevention and successful treatment of postpartum depression is early intervention. Women may not realize they are depressed after having a baby, or may realize they are struggling but feel too embarrassed to seek help. This is why it is very important to screen all new mothers. Encouraging women not to keep postpartum depressive symptoms a secret should be a major priority in the care of all new mothers.

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Postpartum depression: The worst kept secret - Harvard Health

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Cheryl Tatiana Beck "Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders" BOOK

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Cheryl Tatiana Beck "Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders" BOOK

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In this book we get a better understanding on what the most common symptoms of postpartum are and how it may affect a mother with their newborn and what treatments are offered. There is information on ways to catch PPD before it's chances on increasing.

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this article brings awareness of a child experiencing child abuse or neglect . Happens when a mother lacks on nurturing for their infant the right way.

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Healthwatch: Postpartum Depression on JSTOR

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Avalene Bateman, Healthwatch: Postpartum Depression, Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity, No. 22, Families in Question (1994), pp. 57-61

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children underdeveloped social and emotional skills causing attachment issues. They may also develop behavior problems and lack on communication. Lack of nurturing causes distant parent-child bond.

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Maternal depression can have serious consequences for children in social, emotional, and cognitive developmental domains, and children of depressed parents are four to five times as likely as children of nondepressed mothers to be at risk for behavior problems. Children's risk for behavioral disturbances appears to be directly proportional to the chronicity and severity of mothers' depression.

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this article give an insight view to understanding on what effects a child development through out their life with a mother who has had postpartum depression.

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Author links open overlay panel D.M. Teti , N. Towe-Goodman

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in mothers is common and can have insidious effects on mothers and their children, particularly if the depression persists beyond the early such as .? Rates of psychiatric disturbance among older children of depressed mothers are as much as four to five times those among children of nondepressed mothers, and children whose mothers are depressed are also at risk for poor , difficulties in Postpartum depression postpartum period. Infants of depressed mothers are at significantly elevated risk for irritability and withdrawal, insecure attachment, attentional deficits, and developmental delay in the achievement of basic object permanence academic performance interpersonal relationships, substance abuse, and delinquency. Depression can seriously compromise parenting quality. Depressed mothers are likely to hold negative, unfavorably views of their children and of themselves as parents, and mothers' negative affective biases may promote tendencies to attribute negative intentions and motives to their children's behavior. In turn, depressed parenting is less warm, attuned, and responsive than nondepressed parenting. Individual differences in depressed parenting are evident, however, and appear to be associated with differences in child temperament and, more broadly, with the quality of 'fit' between a mother's condition, child characteristics, and the family environment. Fortunately, depression is a highly treatable condition, and depressed mothers can make use of both pharmacological and support-based 'talking' therapies.? Pediatricians, who may be among the first health professionals to identify postpartum depression, can play an important role in referring affected mothers to appropriate mental health facilities. cognitive milestones

Dr. Douglas Teti received his PhD in psychology from the University of Vermont in 1984. Following a 2-year NIMH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Utah, he took an assistant professor position at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 1986, and remained at UMBC until 2003, when he became a professor of Human Development in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State University. Dr. Teti has conducted research that has integrated parental and family functioning and child development in both 'low-' and 'high-risk' contexts. He has devoted much time to understanding the manner in which clinical maternal depression affects early child development and aspects of family functioning. His current funded work is focused on the social, intellectual, and physical development of urban-dwelling African American preterm infants; the intersection of medical and biological risks in predicting developmental trajectories; examining how maternal depression interacts with child characteristics in predicting infant and toddler development; evaluating the effects of a short-term, focused intervention on parent-preterm infant relationships and early child development; and assessing the role of adult attachment and parenting commitment to intervention in moderating these relations. Dr. Teti has strong interests in parenting in its own right and its effects on infant and child functioning. Additional research projects include (1) the role of parenting competence in the promotion of infant sleep quality and sleep problem risk; (2) understanding parenting-at-risk through the assessment of pre-frontal cortical activity and parental emotions while in the act of parenting; and (3) examining the stability/instability of quality of parenting in the transition from infancy to the preschool years, the factors that influence stability, and how individual differences in trajectories of parenting quality predict development in the toddler and preschool years. His work has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals, and he has written or edited two books about infancy and edited the recently published Handbook of Research Methods in Developmental Science (2005, Blackwell).

Nissa Towe-Goodman is a doctoral candidate in the Human Development and Family Studies from the Pennsylvania State University. Following graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she has worked on several longitudinal, multidisciplinary, collaborative research projects involving families with young children. Broadly, her research focuses on the processes within the family that influence changes in emotional reactivity and regulatory skills during infancy and early childhood, with subsequent implications for children?s mental health. She is particularly interested in examining how experiences of interparental conflict impact the development of child regulatory abilities over time, and the role of contextual factors that may influence parents? capacities to be emotionally available and responsive to the child's needs.

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Postpartum Depression, Effects on Infant

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Postpartum depression in mothers is common and can have insidious effects on mothers and their children, particularly if the depression persists beyon...

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a few tips to taking care of yourself 6 weeks postpartum.

tips on vaginal and C-section care, do's and dont's. use pads only for vaginal care after bleeding. after a C-section dont lift! relax and walk everyday to boost blood flow and prevent blood clots.

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in the video a mother speaks on her experience with postpartum and having children at the same time she has her own photoshoot on how she looks while diagnosed.

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Mom With Postpartum Depression Shows Reality Of Having a Mental Illness

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Postpartum Depression - What It Is, Causes, Symptoms, Treatments and More