5 Postpartum Disorders: What to be aware of and when to ask for help
Let me just start off by saying that postpartum is a tricky time. You can experience an array of feelings about your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum journey. Those feelings, while sometimes confusing, are never wrong. They just come up in response to your experience. When we learn to listen and nurture ourselves in these feelings, we are able to recover that much more quickly. There are so many factors at play that can affect how you feel postpartum. If these begin to feel heavy, overwhelming, or scary, I would highly recommend getting support from a therapist as well as family, friends, doctors, and anyone willing to lend a hand during this time. You can schedule your first free session with us — we’d love to support you.
Postpartum disorders are heavily impacted by hormones, neurotransmitters, lack of sleep, and intense adjustment periods. While postpartum depression is more well-known, there also exist other disorders such as postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD, post traumatic stress disorder (specific to postpartum), and postpartum psychosis. Most postpartum disorders occur between one month and one year postpartum. Within the first month postpartum is when “baby blues” can occur. This is a 2-3 week period of increased emotional lability (sudden changes in feelings, mood, and affect) often associated with intense hormonal fluctuations happening during this time period. Understanding some of the symptoms associated with these disorders will better allow you to detect it early on and hopefully get the support needed to recover.
Here are 5 postpartum disorders to be aware of so you can ask for help if you begin to experience any of these symptoms:
Postpartum Depression: Similar to other depressive disorders, Postpartum Depression (PPD) typically involves reduced interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed, lack of motivation, withdrawing from friends and family, increased feelings of shame and guilt, and/or overwhelming fatigue. Unique to postpartum, this can also include difficulty bonding or feeling resentful towards your baby, extended periods of uncontrollable crying, and/or feeling inadequate as a mother.
Postpartum Anxiety: With postpartum anxiety you may experience physical sensations such as rapid heart rate, dizziness, and/or hot flashes. Specific to postpartum, this anxiety often involves an ongoing fear that something bad will happen to you or your baby. It may feel impossible to let others care for your baby or for you to ever be away from your baby.
Postpartum OCD: This often involves intrusive thoughts of harm happening to your baby followed by compulsive behaviors aiming to keep your baby safe. When these behaviors become repetitive and interfere with your functioning, it can be overwhelming at the least. This can be better visualized as a mother who is repetitively waking up and checking on her baby’s breathing when the baby is sleeping, resulting in extreme sleep deprivation for the mother. It can also present as constantly cleaning or checking on safety of items that a baby could encounter.
Postpartum Psychosis: While rare, postpartum psychosis is a disorder that requires immediate attention. Symptoms of psychosis include delusions, erratic and bizarre behavior, detachment from reality, confusion, and/or hallucinations. Women with this disorder are at increased risk for suicide or infanticide. Psychiatric support in combination with therapy is often necessary.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Trauma can occur in any experience when sudden change occurs in which the person feels ill-equipped to manage. Within the context of pregnancy and birth, this experience may present as sudden changes in either the baby or mother’s health, an emergency c-section, or any situation in which a mother felt unheard or shamed in her birthing process. This can later come up in the form of flashbacks, nightmares, and/or feelings of panic related to intrusive thoughts about the birth or pregnancy.
Many mothers experience feelings of guilt and shame when experiencing any of the symptoms listed above during postpartum. Unfortunately there is a lot of pressure around feeling nothing but bliss in this phase of life. When feelings of sadness or worry come up, it’s important to know that you’re not alone. These feelings do NOT mean that you are inadequate as a mother. They are signals from your body that you have needs and just as much as your baby needs nurturing, so do you. Seeking support when these feelings arise can not only provide healing, but can also help you enjoy motherhood. Schedule your first free session — we are here for you.