The mother of Melanie Stokes, Carol Blocker, shared with EmpowHer all the different ways her daughter kept planning her own suicide.
Click the play button to hear the audio.
Her Facts
Postpartum psychosis is rare. It occurs in 1 or 2 out of every 1000 births and usually begins in the first 6 weeks postpartum. Women who have bipolar disorder or another psychiatric problem called schizoaffective disorder have a higher risk for developing postpartum psychosis. Symptoms may include delusions, hallucinations, sleep disturbances, and obsessive thoughts about the baby. A woman may have rapid mood swings, from depression to irritability to euphoria.
Visit Carol Blocker at Her Site: MelaniesBattle.org
Melanie's Battle is a website devoted to raising awareness of postpartum psychosis and depression. Their hope is those who are suffering from these afflictions
will be able to find the understanding and help they need to win their own battles.
Melanie's battle has become Carol's Crusade. After Melanie's Death, Carol contacted every newspaper and magazine she could think of. She has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and in the pages of Jet and Ebony. Carol believes that ignorance is our worst enemy in the battle against postpartum mood disorders. She has organized marches, initiated legislation, distributed flyers in hospital maternity wards, and she has become an advocate for a silent section of our population: women who in the throes of postpartum psychosis killed their own children. Carol has become a pen pal to many of them, and has appeared in court on numerous occasions to testify on their behalf.