Postpartum depression: symptoms and prevention of this disorder following pregnancy
Postpartum depression, also called perinatal depression, is a common disorder among women who have just experienced a pregnancy: it affects 7-12% of women after childbirth, usually occurring in the sixth to twelfth weeks afterwards. the birth of your child.
Postpartum depression can present more or less severe symptoms ranging from a widespread sense of sadness to a feeling of inadequacy, as if you did not feel able to carry out your job as a mother, mixing fear, anxiety and shame too. a disturbing sense of guilt. Often women are victims of a "stereotypical image of motherhood that always wants them to be happy and content with their new role: this social pressure can be detrimental to her mental health, leading to the onset of a depressive disorder.
Certainly a few weeks from the birth of your child are not enough to be impeccable mothers: you need time to get used to the new maternal function and you must not feel inadequate. Postpartum depression is a problem that affects not only women, but the whole family, and it can come to be really limiting for the normal course of one's social and working life.
Women who suffer from this depressive disorder have difficulty in relating to their child, in "interacting with him and in feeling an emotional bond: this happens to 67% of women with postpartum depression! This is therefore a very delicate issue. but it is good to talk about to clarify and feel less alone. Let's find out together what are the causes, symptoms and ways to prevent post-partum depression and to distinguish it from other perinatal disorders such as post-partum psychosis and the baby blues Meanwhile, to introduce the topic, here is a very useful video for you:
What are the causes of postpartum depression?
According to the Ministry of Health, the causes of postpartum depression which - as we have said - can manifest itself with symptoms of different levels of severity, can be of three different types: biological, genetic or psycho-social causes. The biological causes that lead to this disorder are related to changes in the regulation of certain substances such as serotonin and noradrenaline, which control the passage of nerve impulses in the brain. If norepinephrine decreases, the desire to do and act also decreases, while when serotonin decreases the quality of sleep worsens and obsessive tendencies increase.
The genetic causes of depressive disorder following pregnancy are due to heredity issues: if you have first degree relatives who suffer from a major depressive disorder, the risk of experiencing it in turn after childbirth is double or even triple. compared to those who are not genetically familiar.
Psycho-social causes, on the other hand, fall within the sphere of the psyche: postpartum depressive disorder can occur in women who have little self-confidence and who are often very tense or with a strong negative attitude. Depression can then occur following a particularly stressful or traumatic episode, which usually tends to favor the comparison of similar problems, as well as in the absence of a trigger.
What are the symptoms of postpartum depression?
The symptoms with which postpartum depression presents are different. A few weeks after giving birth, a very prolonged sense of sadness and dejection may appear, a mood disorder that occurs daily. You may also experience a lack of desire, loss of desire to do and carry out activities that until a few weeks before we liked them, all accompanied by a deep sense of emptiness.
To this mood disorder is added a strong sense of guilt, the feeling of being worthless, of having failed. You are no longer lucid enough to reflect on your situation, but on the contrary you have great difficulty in concentrating or taking small decisions.
Symptoms of postpartum depression include inevitable sleep disturbances, changes in appetite, agitation or slowing down, negative thoughts or - in some extreme cases - even suicide. Antithetical symptoms and feelings may develop towards your child: some women may have excessive and constant worries towards him, to the point of becoming obsessive and fearful of being able to harm their child; for others, however, a sort of disinterest, lack of emotion and attachment is shown.
Warning: in order to be able to speak of real depression, a depressive disorder that shows the symptoms mentioned must last for a period of at least two weeks. If the depressive state lasts beyond two weeks it is necessary to deepen and talk to your trusted doctor in order to find the right therapy and treat it in the best way.
Are postpartum depression, perinatal psychosis and the baby blues the same thing?
Postpartum depression is often confused with the so-called "baby blues" or with perinatal psychosis, also called postpartum psychosis. Instead, these are very different disorders.
The baby blues (where the word "blues" refers to a sense of melancholy) is a lighter mood disorder, a feeling of melancholy - in fact - and sadness that often manifests itself immediately after childbirth: it reaches its peak already after 3 or 4 days from the birth of your child and disappears shortly after. The baby blues, therefore, never lasts more than a fortnight and is mainly due to hormonal changes in the hours after childbirth and to great fatigue: not surprisingly, it happens to more than 70% of women after pregnancy! The symptoms of depression, as we have seen, have a much greater severity and duration.
Perinatal psychosis, on the other hand, is more serious than depression and, fortunately, occurs much more rarely: new mothers suffering from this disorder can have severe mood alterations, hallucinations and confusional states.
How to prevent postpartum depression?
In order to prevent or limit postpartum depression and its symptoms, the intervention of a psychologist, a psychotherapist or a drug therapy, often integrated with the first two, is always very effective. You can proceed with a single group therapy or couple according to your needs.
The most important thing is to try to live your motherhood with serenity, always having someone with whom you can talk about how you feel (a therapist, in fact, or other mothers or family members), taking time for yourself and for your partner without obsess about your child, getting help in the management of the house and the newborn.
Equally important, moreover, is not to expect the impossible from oneself, always continuing to dedicate time to oneself, without letting oneself be engulfed by the desire to be a perfect mother, because ... perfection does not exist!
For further scientific information, you can consult the website of the Ministry of Health.
