Apparently 10-15% of women who give birth experience some form of postpartum depression. Does this surprise you? It surprised me. I expected that number to be higher. Seems to me the majority of the moms that I know have experienced PPD, ranging from the “baby blues” to debilitating depression.
For some women, this means that the housework remains undone and she lays in bed a lot, cries on a dime, and struggles to give her child what she knows he needs. For some women, this means that she is unable to care for her baby and she slips into isolation. For some women, this means that she or her children are at risk.
Congress is working on a bill that would improve funding for education and research of PPD. You can read more about the effects of PPD and the proposed bill here. Remember the School House Rock Bill? He hangs out on Capitol Hill for a long, long time. Apparently this bill is hanging out due to discussion about adding “post-abortion depression” to the same bill.
Brook Shields experienced a pretty severe case of depression after her daughter was born. She has gone public with this information in her book Down Came the Rain, which means of course that she’s out and about discussing her experiences. It’s often a good thing when a celebrity writes a book that brings an understudied cause to light. It obviously gets much more coverage than if you or I wrote the book. Here is an article which highlight’s the actor’s experience.
Have you experienced PPD? What’s your take on the Bill?
[tags]PPD, postpartum depression, baby blues, Brooke Shields, bill, legislation, Down Came the Rain, mental health[/tags]
6 responses so far ↓
Slouching Mom // May 19, 2007 at 8:47 am
Megin — I think the statistic is explainable in light of the fact that only clinical (i.e., severe, as opposed to mild or moderate) cases of PPD are being included. Mixing in subclinical cases would likely bring the statistic up to a number you’d be more likely to expect.
Misty // May 19, 2007 at 9:40 am
I’m shocked at the low statistic as well. I think the reality of the situation is that many moms experience some level of PPD. Not all wake up one day completely freaked out because they are thinking of going and sitting in the closed garage with the car running (yours truly) and decide it’s time to call the doctor asap. I think many are more on the level of feeling lethargic and having slight difficulty coping mentally and don’t recognize the symptoms.
I’ve always thought moms should be sent home from the maternity ward with a backpack loaded with stretch cream, a list of local shrinks, a starter pack of antidepressants and a years worth of free maid service (why doesn’t motherhood come with maid service?).
Seriously though, I hope it will become less of a stigma as more information becomes available so that more moms can recognize that it’s OK to need help and get it before it’s too late and they and their children are at risk.
Thordora // May 19, 2007 at 10:37 am
Oh man, if they push that bill through, it’s a good start.
I still can’t listen to a young baby (under 6 months or so) cry. I actually start to panic and need to leave if they don’t start crying. I think back to those weeks with my 2nd born-the first postpartum had nothing on the 2nd.
I’d like to see, (in Canada at least) OB/GYN/s who actually ask about the mental state. My appointments were 5 minutes-pee in a cup, listen to the heartbeat and take BP. That’s it.
If my doctor would have asked, he would have known how bad it was BEFORE I gave birth. Hell, I had originally called him for a referral for an abortion. You’d think he’d of figured out something was up.
No one noticed. The nurses remembered my first birth because of the hemmorraging I did, but no where anything noted about the depression I had after birth. And it was bad.
The worst is remembering that I wanted to throw her out the window, and staring at the knives and pills in the kitchen. Or letting her sleep on her tummy in the hopes that she would die.
Talking a lot of that through on my site helped me come to grips with the fact that I can’t change what happened, and that it’s not my fault.
But I can’t help but wish someone would have been there for me BEFORE this happened. They were more concerned with me latching the baby correctly rather than the fact that I bawled uncontrollably every time my milk let down. NO ONE noticed.
That hurts most of all. So hopefully a bill like this will make post partum mental illness as important as breastfeedng…
sorry…I’m a little passionate about this one…and still mad in someways…
Finn // May 20, 2007 at 6:44 am
PPD, in my opinion, is vastly underreported. And I think it’s because we’re ashamed. And not all of us were suicidal or completely unable to function.
For me, as for Thoroda, it began during my pregnancy, but I didn’t understand what was happening to me. And I don’t think there was enough attention paid either before or after the birth. Certainly I was asked, but it was a single question, “You feeling OK?” answered with a quick “uh huh” because I didn’t want anyone to know.
I think they should include PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome) in this bill. It’s very common among women who have had premature babies or babies born with disabilites or stillbirths. This also happened to me but wasn’t diagnosed until years later.
As an aside, before Brooke Shields revealed her PPD, Marie Osmond did. Hers was more like mine, wanting to just pick up and run away. At the time when she had her show and talked about it, I remember feeling so relieved that what I was feeling was real and not my fault. I hadn’t even considered the fact that I had PPD.
Sylvia // May 20, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Clinically, PPD isn’t the same diagnosis as Baby Blues- the statistic for Baby Blues is from 50-80% depending on the study, which makes much more sense. PPD is 10-20%, while Postpartum psychosis is 1:1,000. There is a really good article in the May/June issue of “Mothering” on PP Psychosis that has lots of information on other Postpartum Mood Disorders as well.
Megin Hatch // May 21, 2007 at 8:42 am
It didn’t dawn on me that PPD was even a possibility for me either. A day or 2 after a very difficult and disappointing birth experience (with my 3rd) (the table I was laboring on broke and I ended up with my only c-section), I saw the dr that delivered and was very very weepy. He actually laughed and said, “looks like the baby blues” and sent me out to the courtyard to get some sun. My initial though was, it’s not the freaking baby blues, you’re just a crappy dr. But my disappointment in the experience intensified over the next months. I obsessed about it. My midwife acknowledged what was going on and helped me to get through it. Not over it- but through it. Yeah,it’s going on 3 years and I am still not over it.
PPD has a wide range of symptoms and isn’t always an easy catch. If this bill helps people to be more aware of it, then it’ a really good thing.
Leave a Comment