“I think I have postpartum.”
These are words I hear repeatedly as women seek help with their difficult transitions to motherhood. Three to five years ago I rarely heard anything so clearly defined. Thanks to growing awareness, many women (or their family and friends) are able to recognize the signs of postpartum mood disorders and seek early treatment.
Pregnancy and postpartum mood disorders are a concern if the parent is sad and cries a lot, is irritable and angry, has trouble bonding with the new baby, has trouble sleeping or eating, feels like she shouldn’t have become a mother, or is worried about hurting the baby or herself. This doesn’t apply only to the months after giving birth; many women experience the first signs of anxiety or mood disorder during their pregnancies, and treatment should begin then.
One in eight women, and one in 10 men, struggle with some sort of postpartum difficulty, so it’s a relief to know that help and hope are in large supply.
After prevention, early treatment is the next best thing. And, thankfully, there are numerous effective treatments for the varieties of depression, anxiety, or even post-traumatic stress that can occur during pregnancy or in the year following childbirth (the entire perinatal time period.) These include psychotherapy; alternative approaches such as naturopathy, body work, and Chinese medicine; and, finally, medications that provide relief from symptoms and are safe to use while breastfeeding, https://discoverdentalhouston.com/xanax-alprazolam/.
Since perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMAD) can also affect the cognitive and emotional development of any child involved, it is especially important that new parents receive the help they need promptly.
This is my four-point strategy for managing perinatal mood disorders: Predict, Prepare, Refer and Repair.
Predict and Prepare
Prediction and preparation go together. If you know about the things that make pregnancy-related or postpartum mood disorders more likely to happen, you can assess your own risk level and prepare yourself and your partner by taking some preventive steps. Although it is true that women with no predisposing factors can suffer with PMAD, established research tells us that the major contributors to PMAD are:
- A personal or familial history of depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder
- Experience of PMAD with earlier pregnancy/postpartum
- History of substance abuse, eating disorder, or sexual abuse
- History of prior reproductive losses or fertility challenges
- Mood disturbance accompanying menses (Premenstrual Mood Disorder) or in response to hormonal birth control treatment
- Physical changes such as a complicated pregnancy, hormone imbalance, changes in thyroid function, exhaustion and chronic sleep deprivation/disturbance
- Abrupt weaning
- Troubled relationship with partner, family of origin, or infant
- Absence of familial or other social support
- Financial problems
- Difficulty adjusting to new role as mother
- A recent history of loss, job change, a move, or serious illness in the family
Refer
If you think that you are likely to develop PMAD (or think you already have), refer yourself to one or more of the many therapists and support groups that exist in our city.
We have a very active chapter of Postpartum Support International (PSI) that offers a telephone warm line, support groups across the city, a listing of professionals who specialize in PPMD treatment, and a scholarship fund that supports low-resource women in accessing quality care. We’ve also published an informative booklet, “Beyond the Birth: What No One Ever Talks About” (2010), that is available through Amazon.com.
Our community is also rich in parent education and support groups such as First Weeks, PEPS, LaLeche, Talaris and community college parent-infant cooperatives. If you or your loved ones think that you need extra support, don’t hesitate to search out a therapist trained to work with families suffering from any perinatal mood disorder.
Repair
With so many parents suffering from PMAD, is it any wonder that nearly 50 percent of couples experience a drop in marital satisfaction following the birth of a baby? With help, even struggling parents can repair difficulties in their relationships. This is equally true of the parent-child relationship.
Thankfully, babies and young children are resilient. In fact, research indicates that in the most happily adjusted mom-baby dyads, the mothers are “reading” their babies’ cues incorrectly almost 75 percent of the time! Apparently, the path to a healthy relationship doesn’t lie in perfection – it lies in the ability to keep trying new approaches.
