Many women know of the physical discomforts of pregnancy, but they are still learning about the mental and emotional effects, like postpartum depression.
They might expect to feel a little moody or sad before, during and after pregnancy, but postpartum depression is not always a short-term occurrence or a little sadness here and there.
One recent study in London found that “more than a third of mothers experience depression before their child turns 12 years old, with the highest rates in the first year after birth.” The study calls it “parental depression,” but it seems that at least some of this can be considered postpartum depression for women.
A fifth of fathers suffer from this parental depression as well, and the depression was found to be caused by additional stressors added after having a baby, as well as a younger age of parents and those with a history of depression.
The fact that mothers have a higher rate of depression than fathers most likely demonstrates a biological aspect, though the study didn’t say that. High rates occurring in the first year after birth also point to postpartum depression.
According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, there is a difference between “baby blues” and postpartum depression. Baby blues happen “about 2 to 3 days after birth,” and symptoms are usually some depression and anxiety, crying, and sleeping, eating and decision troubles.
Postpartum depression usually starts around one to three weeks after birth and has the usual symptoms of other types of depression.
Postpartum Support International’s website stated that around 15 percent of women “experience significant depression following childbirth,” and this can start anytime during the first year after childbirth.
Diane Sanford, a psychologist in Missouri and author of the book “Life Will Never Be The Same: The Real Mom’s Postpartum Survival Guide,” said that postpartum depression lasts during the “first year following childbirth.”
“However…up to 50 percent of women go untreated or undertreated,” Sanford said. “Because of that, they continue to have symptoms and sometimes episodes of depression, which can occur for multiple years after their child is born.”
She said postpartum depression can eventually turn into a full-blown clinical depression because of lack of proper treatment.
Some causes of postpartum depression are strained relationships, financial issues, adjustments that women go through because of the baby, like a change at work, stress related to becoming the “perfect mother,” lack of social and emotional support and lack of self-love.
She said stress and pressures of parenting can add to depression after the one-year postpartum depression time period.
"At that point, the hormonal influences are not as strong," Sanford said, so it can be more of "psychosocial influences" like the "pressures of parenting" and "adjusting to motherhood."
Sanford said she is starting a 21-day online postpartum self-care challenge in October called “LIVING the Self-Care Challenge.”
Michael O’Hara, a clinical psychologist in Iowa, said that some postpartum depression can be chronic, but it usually doesn’t last longer than a year if the woman is getting treatment.
“There are women who are generally vulnerable to depression and they’re the ones that are probably most susceptible to have what I would call a chronic depression,” O’Hara said, which would include lasting as long as a year.
He said postpartum depression doesn’t last just a couple weeks – it’s usually for several months.
“Women who experience depression that [is] that brief probably aren’t going to get treatment, because by the time they really recognize it and gear up to go get help, it would’ve ended,” O’Hara said.
In one treatment trial he said on average women had depression for around six to eight months before treatment.
Women who are already depressed are more likely to suffer from postpartum depression and even more severe depression due to pregnancy and childbirth. Talk to a mental health professional for more information, especially if you are considering pregnancy while depressed or think you are suffering from postpartum depression.
Sources:
http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Newspublications/News/MRC007207
http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp091.cfm
http://www.realmomexperts.com/