Post Partum Depression: Symptoms & When to Seek Help

Trish looks like any other Kansas City mom. Athletic, tan and always on the go. To meet her, one would never guess that just a little over a year ago, Trish struggled with feelings of sadness and isolation. These emotions crept silently into her life just two months after her son was born.

“I felt totally disconnected from everyone and everything around me.” Trish shares. “I felt so alone. And it was too embarrassing and painful to share with anyone. I knew they couldn’t understand.”

Trish’s story is not unusual. In fact, research has shown that 1 in 8 women in the United States experience post-partum depression and as many as 75 percent suffer from the baby blues. With statistics like these, how does a new mother know whether she may be suffering from Post-Partum Depression (PPD) and how does PPD differ from the “baby blues”?

When you read the list of symptoms below, keep in mind that every woman is different. As you go through the list, you may find that you are dealing with a couple quite frequently, while some of the others you don’t experience at all. You may also notice that you’ve only experienced the feelings off and on for a few days, but none of them has lasted longer than a week or so. When we think of PPD, as opposed to baby blues, we typically consider that a woman has struggled with symptoms for more than two weeks and it has impacted her ability to function on a daily basis.

If you have had a baby within the last 12 months and are experiencing some of these symptoms, it might be time to seek help from a mental health professional.

• Depressed mood accompanied by feelings of hopelessness. You have frequent thoughts that things will never get better. You feel empty and go through the motions of just getting through the day.
• Anxiety. This is often exhibited by feelings of panic or not being in control of yourself or your surroundings. Physically, it may present itself in the form of a racing heartbeat, sweaty palms and difficulty breathing.
• Sleep disturbance. You have a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep. You may also find that you are waking several times during the night and tossing and turning throughout the night. 
• Angry outbursts. You notice that even the small things that others do annoy you and you become impatient when dealing with friends, family members and even total strangers. Feelings of resentment and out-of-control rage begin to boil up inside you. 
• Frequent tearfulness to the point where you don’t feel the happiness that you thought you would after having a baby. Your emotions, at times, feel difficult to control. You cry for no reason and can’t seem to stop crying once you begin. 
• Lack of energy to accomplish even small things like picking up after yourself, returning phone calls and, sometimes, even getting out of bed in the morning. 
• Lack of interest in the things that used to bring you pleasure. Favorite hobbies, frequent exercise, even meeting friends for coffee or lunch doesn’t have as much importance or meaning as it used to.
• Poor concentration and forgetfulness. Some women worry when they can’t remember where they put their car keys or forget the phone number of their pediatrician. Most often, these are common instances that many people tend to not pay as much attention to and shouldn’t be an area of concern. When dealing with PPD, this is most often seen in the form of not being able to follow one train of thought or forgetting what was said by another person in the middle of a conversation. 
• You lack a connection with your baby. You don’t feel the bond that you imagined you would before the baby was born. You feel guilty because you don’t have the feelings for your infant that you believe every new mother should.
• Thoughts of harming yourself and/or your baby. This is an item of primary concern and should be dealt with immediately by contacting a mental health care professional. If the feelings are so strong that you don’t think you can control yourself, you should call 9-1-1 right away.

While we don’t know the exact cause of PPD just yet, research shows there are a wide variety of risk factors, from your family’s medical history to how your body processes certain hormones to the level of stress you’re experiencing now or did in the past to how much support you have to help you care for your baby. The important thing to remember is that these symptoms are treatable and you are not alone. If, after reading the above checklist, you feel like many of the symptoms apply to you, please take the first step and reach out to a mental health professional to get the help you need.

That’s exactly what Trish did. “I think I just reached a point of not wanting to wake up feeling like I didn’t know who I was anymore,” she says. “My doctor referred me to a local therapist who works with women who are dealing with post-partum depression. Once I took the first step and I realized I wasn’t going crazy, I knew the hardest part was behind me.”

Local Resources

Locally, there are support groups on both sides of the state line for women struggling with PPD. In Overland Park, a PPD support group, sponsored by the Postpartum Resource Center of Kansas, meets on Tuesday evenings. The Postpartum Resource Center also hosts a support group in South Jackson County that meets on Monday evenings. For more information on either group, contact PRC at 913.677.1300. For those women who would like more information about PPD or who want to make a connection at times other than when the local groups are meeting, there is an on-line support group available at http://www.PPDSupportPage.com.

Kathie Hodes is a local psycho-therapist in private practice withPrairie Fire Counseling. She specializes in working with women,especially new and expectant mothers.