Symptoms of postpartum depression (PDD) can be divided into three categories:
- Postpartum blues (baby blues). Very short in duration, may not require formal treatment but supportive care only
- Postpartum depression. Lasts longer, is more debilitating, and requires medical care
- Postpartum psychosis. Most severe form, requires aggressive psychiatric care
There are many possible symptoms of postpartum depression, including the following:
- Do you feel you are a 'bad' mother?
- Do you have horrible and distressing thoughts about yourself and your baby?
- Are you visualising terrible things happening to your baby caused by you?
- Do you have any 'chanting' thoughts or fast moving thoughts which don't go away especially when you try to sleep?
- Are you anxious or obsessive about your baby's health, welfare and safety?
- Do you clean the house all of the time or have obsessive thoughts about a fear of germs or illness harming your baby?
- Do you think about knives, or other dangerous objects or driving in your car and then have 'what would happen if…' thoughts?
- Do you think you are a 'bad person' rather than thinking you may have some kind of postnatal illness?
- Did you feel numb after having your baby—like he/she wasn't really yours?
- Do you play the birth in your mind time and time again because it was so awful for you?
- Are you able to enjoy life, have a sense of humour and laugh like you did before having your baby?
- Do you feel 'not right in yourself' since the birth of your baby?
- Do you avoid talking about the birth because you feel numb, or cry excessively about how you were treated?
- Are you hiding how you really feel about any of the issues mentioned in the questions above?
- Do you feel so angry you fantasise about hurting the staff who delivered your baby?
- Do you have flashbacks, nightmares or panic attacks?
- Do you have difficulty sleeping?
- Do you feel irritable and are roused to anger easily?
- Do you avoid talking about the birth and get 'panicky' when you are reminded of it in anyway.
- Inability to sleep or sleeping a lot
- Change in appetite
- Extreme concern and worry about the baby or a lack of interest or feelings for the baby
- Feeling unable to love the baby or your family
- Anger toward the baby, your partner, or other family members
- Anxiety or panic attacks
- Fear of harming your baby; these thoughts may be obsessive, and you may be afraid to be left alone in the house with your baby.
- Irritability
- Sadness or excessive crying
- Difficulty concentrating or remembering
- Feelings of doubt, guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, or restlessness
- Lethargy or extreme fatigue
- Loss of interest in hobbies or other usual activities
- Mood swings marked by exaggerated highs and lows
- Feeling emotionally numb
- Numbness or tingling in your arms or legs
- Hyperventilating
- Frequent calls to the pediatrician with an inability to be reassured
- Recurrent thoughts of death, which may include thinking about or even planning suicide
Obsessive-compulsive thoughts and behaviors that are intrusive
Call Your Doctor About Postpartum Depression If:
- You have hallucinations and delusions about yourself or your baby; this is an emergency.
- You have thoughts about hurting yourself or your baby
- You have symptoms or signs of depression that have lasted longer than two weeks after childbirth or that began within two months of giving birth
Postpartum depression is a very serious disese and more people should be aware of the symptoms.
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