Hear how Carol Blocker found out her daughter Melanie Stokes was trying to kill herself. Melanie Stokes had Postpartum Psychosis, a devastating mood disorder that can develop two to four weeks postpartum or immediately after a woman gives birth. Postpartum psychosis causes paranoia, hallucinations (hearing voices urging a new mother to kill herself or her child), severe insomnia, loss of appetite, anxiety and depression. A woman suffering from postpartum psychosis often suffers alone because of the shame associated with this illness.
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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.