Things Few People Understand About PPD

Up to 1 out of 7 new mothers go through an extended period of postpartum depression (PPD). This condition is more than just the baby blues; it’s a serious mental health condition that’s hard on mother, child, and other family members.

At Genesis Psychiatric Solutions, board-certified psychiatrist Dr. Ifeanyi Olele treats a range of women’s mental health conditions, including postpartum depression. Here’s what we want you to know about how childbirth can affect your mental health, including things few people understand about PPD.

Signs of PPD

The baby blues usually shows up a few days after you give birth and lasts about two weeks, with alternating euphoria and tears. But PPD is different.

Signs can show up days, weeks, or months after delivery — as late as a year afterward — or even show up during pregnancy, well ahead of childbirth.

Signs of PPD include:

Anxiety
Depression
Loneliness
Misery
Changes in appetite
Mood swings
Insomnia
Feelings of fear or despair
Intrusive thoughts
Terror of hurting the baby or not being a good mom
A self-image of worthlessness

Moms with PPD may even have bad dreams or unexpected visions of themselves hurting their baby. This can be debilitating and cause the mother to distance herself from her child out of fear and concern.

What you should know about PPD

PPD is treatable, but only if you seek help. Knowing the signs and educating yourself about PPD can help you be ready in case the condition rears its head. Here are some things few people know about PPD.

Postpartum depression is not postpartum psychosis

Women with postpartum depression are extremely unlikely to hurt their children. In fact, most of their depression and anxiety is centered around the fear that they might accidentally cause harm or that they will fail at motherhood.

Some new moms even refuse to hold their own baby due to the fear that they will drop them or otherwise let them down.

Postpartum psychosis (PPP) has a fast onset of symptoms that rapidly escalates. If you suffer from PPP, you:

May become extremely agitated
May hallucinate or have delusions
Are prone to paranoia
Suffer from intense feelings of shame

You may also suffer from insomnia, mania, hyperactivity, and suicidal ideation requiring immediate treatment. Around one out of a thousand women have PPP.

Childbirth can be more traumatic than you think

Up to 45% of women report that their experience of giving birth was traumatic. This could be because the process was extremely painful, because of complications during the birth that endangered mother and/or child, or because of an unplanned cesarean section, which is a major surgical procedure.

Trauma can trigger different types of mental health issues, including PPD and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The new mom should be supported during the days and weeks after their delivery. Watch for signs of fear, anxiety, depression, insomnia, mood swings, and other hallmarks of PPD.

Mom-baby bonding is possible even with PPD

It’s a common myth that PPD destroys the ability of moms and babies to develop a strong and lasting bond. This is more a matter of perception on the part of the mother, enhanced by fears that they are not doing a good enough job or might be a bad mother.

A study of mothers with depression and those without showed that while new moms with depression might report they are not feeling the bond, the way both sets of mothers and babies interacted and the presence of oxytocin (a type of hormone) showed that bonding was still happening.

If you’re a new mom yourself or you know someone who is, be aware that PPD makes no distinction in age, race, or social class. Any woman can suffer from PPD, which is why it’s so important that women, their friends, and their family are able to recognize the signs.

To learn more about PPD and get help, contact us by calling our office closest to you or requesting a consultation online. We’re located in Fairfax and Alexandria, Virginia, and in Washington, DC.