A quick post partum depression PSA from our resident expert..

Many women in my clinical practice suffer from postpartum anxiety or depression. These symptoms can present up to a year after you have your baby.  Women (and/or sometimes their partners) may worry excessively, suffer from insomnia, experience low appetite, experience physical symptoms or panic attacks, have persistently low mood, feel overwhelmed, cry frequently, feel irritable or apathetic, experience mood swings along with a range of other symptoms
When your default is compromised because of your emotional state, it can be particularly hard to trust yourself .  At times it can feel difficult to access good, reliable information from a dependable resource. If you google “when to sleep train” you might find 20 articles saying different things about when, if and how.  How do you know who to trust in the midst of information overload.
The rates of postpartum and pregnancy-related mood disorders are higher than many people realize.
-Roughly 80% of new mothers’ experience “normal” baby blues in the first few weeks after a baby arrives.
-1 in 7 experiences serious levels of anxiety or depression during pregnancy or postpartum in the first 3 months following the birth of a child. If you follow these women for a year postpartum the rate increases to 1 in 5!
-1 to 2 out of 1000 women suffer from postpartum psychosis
-1 in 10 fathers experience postpartum depression
(above three statistics are cited from: Wisner KL et al JAMA Psychiatry, 2013; Paulson et al, JAMA, 2010)
Suicide is one of the three leading cause of maternal death around the world. Bleeding and hypertension were number 1 and 2. The peak risk for suicide in this study was 7 to 9 months postpartum.  Dell & O’Brien, 2003
Who is at risk for postpartum mental health mood disorder?

• Previous postpartum mental health disorder history (family history, personal history, symptoms during pregnancy)
• History of Mood Disorders
  

• ​Significant mood reaction to hormonal changes (i.e. historically had trouble related to mood changes during menstrual cycle, or mood changes during puberty)
  

• Endocrine dysfunction 
  
• Limited Social Support

Why talk about these statistics?

• They are treatable and so many women, (and partners) do not seek help because of shame and stigma. There is a taboo around many aspects of mental health, but it’s amplified when it comes to becoming a parent. Women and partners can suffer day after day; often secretly feeling ashamed and feeling they made a mistake.
  
  

• We want you to know there are treatments out there that are effective and help so many people every day.
  
  

Our hope is that if we can help people understand how common these symptoms are, particularly in the first year of your child’s  life, identify the symptoms, and take a more proactive approach it will facilitate parents getting the help they need more often.
Med-Psych’s Parent Consultation approach is to both address the concern you have for your child from a medical perspective as well as help you identify whether there are parenting/psychological issues at play that impact your current struggle
Whether a parent is experiencing a postpartum mental health disorder or simply something that is coming up for him/her surrounding a particular parenting struggle, we appreciate how important it is to help our clients understand their own reaction to the issue so that it can be most effectively addressed.