Postpartum depression is still one of those mental health issues that aren’t well understood by many and denied by quite a few too. While some people think of PPD as baby blues, true PPD is so much more than just feeling sad. At worst, PPD can cause women to do things they’d never do when they’re mentally healthy. At best, PPD makes life very miserable as women struggle through it.
The good news is that doctors are becoming more aware of PPD and working on helping identify it. It if’s identified, then work can start on trying to treat or manage it. (Can depression during pregnancy be identified?, Celebrities also get post partpartum depression, and Pediatricians may be best placed to discover postpartum depression)
New research, published in BMJ Online, has found that the risk of postpartum depression may drop as much as 50% if women have supportive telephone conversations with their peers. In other words, a good heart-to-heart chat with someone who understands what they are going through.
The study’s author says there are two things that need to be in place to help reduce postpartum depression:
1- New mothers have to be able to access the treatments that are available, so they need to be convenient.
2- Recognizing postpartum depression (also called postnatal depression) is easier if family members and the women themselves know more about it – the key is education.
Other posts on Womb Within about PPD:
- “Speak Up When You’re Down”
- Videos about postpartum depression
- Fathers and their postpartum depression
- What if depression happens during pregnancy, not after?
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Tags: pregnancy blog, postpartum depression, postnatal depression, PPD, depression after pregnancy