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It’s not a secret that pregnancy, childbirth, and jumping into motherhood takes a major physical toll on mothers. However, many new moms and their partners aren’t prepared for the mental health impacts that can happen during this time. While postpartum depression is often discussed, other postpartum mood and anxiety disorders are not widely known, despite the fact that many women experience them.
The most important thing to remember is that these conditions don’t make a woman a bad mother if she experiences them during or after pregnancy. Postpartum mood and anxiety disorders are caused by chemical changes in the brain and can improve with proper treatment. It’s crucial to learn about the different types of disorders, symptoms to watch for, how to be supportive, and the treatment options available so everyone is prepared. Early intervention is key.
Postpartum Depression
Postpartum depression, or PPD, is one of the better known postpartum conditions. Approximately 15% of women will experience depression after childbirth. Women with PPD may experience feelings of anger, sadness, guilt, irritability, lack of interest in the baby, changes in eating and sleeping habits, trouble concentrating, thoughts of hopelessness, and thoughts of hurting themselves or the baby. PPD is different from the “baby blues,” which many new moms experience.
Postpartum Anxiety
An estimated 10% of women experience postpartum anxiety, or PPA, and it can be accompanied by PPD. Symptoms to look out for include constant worry, feeling that something bad is going to happen, racing thoughts, changes in sleep or appetite, inability to sit still, physical symptoms including dizziness, racing heart, and hot flashes.
Women with PPA can also experience postpartum panic disorder, where they feel very nervous and have recurring panic attacks. These attacks can bring shortness of breath, chest pain, claustrophobia, dizziness, heart palpitations, and numbness or tingling in hands and feet. Although these sensations are very uncomfortable, they are not harmful.
Postpartum OCD
Postpartum OCD is the most misunderstood and misdiagnosed postpartum disorder. About 3-5% of new mothers will experience postpartum OCD.
Postpartum OCD is characterized by obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions, known as intrusive thoughts, are persistent, repetitive thoughts or mental images related to the baby. They can be very upsetting thoughts, and are not something that the woman has experienced before. Compulsions are when the mom does things over and over again to reduce fears, such as cleaning constantly, checking things many times, counting or reordering things.
Other symptoms of postpartum OCD include a sense of horror about the obsessions, fear of being left alone with the baby, hypervigilance in protecting the baby. These moms know that their fears are unlikely to occur, but they cannot stop them.
Read our latest blog for tips to learn more and find treatment and support resources.
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