Postnatal depression is a term used to cover feelings of depression after having a baby. At first many women are tired, feel unsure and are not able to cope when they come home from hospital. This normally passes within a couple of weeks. However, for mothers with postnatal depression, things do not improve
I was so looking forward to having this baby, and now I feel utterly miserable. What’s the matter with me?
The labour went beautifully – much better than I expected, and everyone’s been marvellous, especially Jim… So why am I not over the moon?
I was so afraid that there’d be something wrong with her? Perhaps, I’m not cut out to be a mother?
A Common Complication
These women are not ungrateful or unmotherly, they are experiencing one of the most common complications of childbirth, from which too many women still suffer unnecessarily in silence – Post-Natal Depression.
Puerperal Psychosis
is the most extreme form of postnatal mood change, it is fairly rare, affecting 1 in 500 new mothers. Symptoms are evident within a short time after the birth and include the mother becoming restless, mildly confused and unable to sleep, sufferer loses contact with reality. Medical intervention is vital.