What exactly is postpartum depression

How do I beat postpartum depression? With postpartum depression, feelings of sadness and anxiety can be extreme and might interfere with a woman’s ability to care for herself or her family. Postpartum depression is a mood disorder that can affect women after childbirth. Mothers with postpartum depression experience feelings of.

Every once in a while I have an appointment with a woman who recently had a baby and she breaks down crying at the postpartum visit. Having a baby is tough.

Continued Be Kind to Yourself. Remember, postpartum depression is a medical condition. It has nothing to do with your character, how good a mother you are, or how much you love your baby. If at any time, you believe that postpartum depression is affecting the lives of you and your family, it’s imperative that you seek a professional opinion as soon as possible.

When you have a baby, you’re expected to glow. The birth of a baby can trigger a jumble of powerful emotions, from excitement and joy to fear and anxiety. But it can also result in something you might not expect — depression.

Many new moms experience the baby blues — a mil short-lived.

It is unclear exactly what causes postpartum depression, but research has shown that genetic risk, situational stresses, changes in a variety of hormones, and changes in certain chemicals in the brain may all play a roll in triggering this. It may help to talk through your concerns with a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health professional. Through counseling, you can find better ways to cope with your feelings, solve problems and set realistic goals.

If you have some of the early warning signs of postpartum depression , talk to your doctor or counselor right away. The earlier you seek treatment, the sooner you can start to feel like yourself again. Medication for Postpartum Depression and Anxiety.

If PPD or PPA are very disruptive, medication might be in order. Most doctors feel that the best medication for postpartum depression and anxiety is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Along with medical treatment, natural remedies such as exercise and getting the right.

This rare and serious form of mental illness can happen with postpartum depression. Symptoms often begin during the first weeks after your baby is born, and are more severe than those for. Depression During Pregnancy and after Childbirth.

But for women with postpartum , or peripartum, depression it can become very distressing and difficult. What Is Postpartum Depression ? For most women, having a baby is a very exciting, joyous, and often anxious time.

Instea it is believed that postpartum depression can have multiple causes. Each woman who develops postpartum depression has her own set of risk factors that made her more susceptible to its development. In some cases, it’s unclear as to why and how a woman developed postpartum depression.

Only a health care provider can diagnose a woman with postpartum depression. Because symptoms of this condition are broad and may vary between women, a health care provider can help a woman igure out whether the symptoms she is feeling are due to postpartum depression or something else. In that way, postpartum depression is exactly like any other depression that is unrelated to childbirth. But there’s more to it than that. Take a look at the symptoms of depression , as put forth.

Exactly how postpartum depression unfolds is somewhat unpredictable. While some women are predisposed to experiencing postpartum depression , PPD can affect anyone, including women who experience a normal delivery and give birth to a healthy child. Since a personal history of depression can increase the risk of postpartum depression , let your doctor know if you have struggled with depression or anxiety in the past.

It is different than the typical “ baby blues ” most women experience shortly after giving birth, which is usually a brief swarm of emotions of “feeling down” that tend to go away within a week or two. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that one in nine mothers in the U. Unlike the baby blues, postpartum depression is not caused only by hormonal changes in your post-baby body.