Can Women be Saved From Postpartum Depression?
Have you by any chance come across mothers who always seem to avoid their newly born babies? This condition is a type of depression known as postpartum depression and it occurs due to hormonal changes that occur right after the baby has been born. These body hormonal changes in turn affect the brain which makes the emotional status of the mother unstable for sometime. With proper treatment administered, the health condition may be fixed and the emotional status of the mother be returned to normal functioning.
Apart from hormonal changes, postpartum depression may occur to mothers who may have suffered from a major depression condition prior to giving birth. With this medical history in place, any imbalance of hormones in the body usually results in the mother suffering from this disease. Psychosocial stress and inadequate social support may also contribute to this type of depression since the new mother may feel that she has been left all alone to raise the child and because of her inexperience she may harm the baby. The constant thoughts of harming the baby are the ones which always lead the baby's mother to suffer from postpartum depression.
Once the mother starts suffering from this type of depression, her ability to enjoy pleasurable activities fade with time and every time she appears to have eyes full of tears. She may also have a hard time when trying to sleep, have appetite problems, always feeling in adequate as a parent, have an impaired concentration and when it
comes to the worst, the mother may start having suicidal thoughts. When this stage eventually comes, it is usually highly advisable to let the patient seek medical and psychological help because if left untreated, the threat may become a reality. Something disturbing is that, whenever the mother starts having suicidal thoughts, the thought of killing the child together with herself is usually never far behind. This thought is not always generated from anger but rather from the mother's desire not to abandon her child after she is gone. With all these problems of postpartum depression, the mother's ability to take care of her baby becomes interfered with leaving the child not well taken care of in cases where other family members do not step in to offer help.
Among the types of postpartum depressions, postpartum psychosis is believed to be the most serious one to ever exist. However, this condition rarely occurs in women and usually takes place within three (3) weeks after the mother gives birth. The condition makes the mother become delusional or have hallucinations and sometimes in severe cases, the mother may tend to have both these conditions. The effects of these problems make the patient appear crazy at times and when people do not respond to the patient's requests, she may take it the bad way and in return, react in a manner that would either harm herself or her child. For this reason, professional help is usually recommended for the desperate mother immediately postpartum depression has been detected. Failure to do this, both the patient and her new born baby may continue suffering. Again, if the condition is not fully treated, the mother risks suffering from it the next time she gives birth.
Wangeci Kinyanjui is an expert on research and reporting on Health Matters for years.To get more information on postpartum depression visit her site at POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION
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