A Bout With Postpartum Depression

If you’re a parent who just had a baby, chances of you going through a
postpartum depression are one in four. And if you’re a mother, it is even
worse; with more than 50% Indian mothers experiencing it. When your life
gets a whole new meaning with parenthood, feelings of sadness, anxiety and
low energy can be somewhat perplexing. That’s when you know you are
experiencing a postpartum depression, and you’re not the only one.

What is a postpartum depression?

Often termed as ‘Baby Blues,’ which is a milder version of the depression,
postpartum depression (PPD) affects new mothers weeks after childbirth. It
is a long-lasting bout of severe depression which directly affects the
mother’s health and mental condition. It branches out into sadness, severe
mood swings, bipolar disorder, change in appetite, little energy, nonexistent
libido among other symptoms.
It’s often overlooked as a sign of weakness and fear to embrace parenthood,
but it’s a bit more severe than that, though curable with proper psychotic
treatment. Doctors believe that the depression is caused mostly due to
massive hormonal imbalance during pregnancy, and also due to a
considerable change in the lifestyle before and after childbirth. The latter
sometimes affects fathers as well, as a result of which about 10% fathers
experience PPD in their lifetime.

The Risk Factors

Postpartum depression can accentuate suicidal thoughts, mostly in the
mother. As earlier stated, it affects the mother’s mental state and in many
cases, leads her to commit suicide, unless treated with utmost love and care.
Furthermore, statistics show that PPD affects many mothers from a low
socioeconomic background and they may be 11 times more likely to
experience PPD than mothers having a better background.
Prevention and cure
Since it is a type of depression, most cures can be obtained by therapy rather
than a more mainstream process using medication. Cognitive behavioral
therapy (CBT), inter personal therapy (IPT), are two of the most popular
types of treatment that have found the most success among patients. Some
doctors opine that PPD and Major depressive disorder (MDD) are different
variants of the same depression, and hence, medicate patients accordingly.
One way of preventing PPD is by psychotherapy (which is not as menacing
as it sounds!), where the mother, overwhelmed by the new tasks of
motherhood, can share her thoughts with a professional psychiatrist and get
the pressure off of her chest.
Ella Vos, a singer-songwriter who went through postpartum depression, has
found music to be the biggest inspiration in healing herself.

The postpartum depression is an underrated monster, which has the potential

to ruin a new mother’s life and can affect the baby’s growth as well. Thus, to
live the subsequent years, depression-free, it is essential for the mother to go
through therapeutic to prevent it from affecting lives. And it is imperative to
spread awareness regarding this growing monster; it should not be dwelled
with, lightly.