Healthy Habits: Postpartum Depression

Postpartum depression (PPD) affects approximately 600,000 women each year.  Alanis Morissette just recently revealed, 14 months after her second daughter’s birth, that she is suffering from PPD.  Additionally, stars like Chrissy Teigen, Hayden Panettiere,  Brooke Shields, Courtney Cox, and many others, also suffered and silently struggled with postpartum depression and anxiety for many months. I had a chance to interview Dr. James Betoni, board certified OBGYN and high risk maternal fetal medicine doctor in Boise, ID, about postpartum depression, baby blues, and postpartum psychosis and how he is helping his patients with this sometime silent and dangerous struggle.

How do women know when they should seek help for feeling down after pregnancy?  the diagnostic criteria are  the same as major depression and thus feelings of being sad or hopeless , not being able to sleep are signs that it could be PPD.

Is it possible for women to work through the baby blues on their own? Yes, they often work through on their own and subside in the first few weeks after delivery. A good support system helps with this process 

What are the differences between PPD, baby blues, and postpartum psychosis? the PPD and blues can overlap but the blues go away, PPD persists and patient has persist and the depression becomes severe enough that it interferes with the patient taking care of herself and/or the baby. There is a loss of association with reality with PP psychoses---the woman may hear voices, hallucinate , have delusions like the baby is Satan . Many have underlying bipolar disorder . This is a psychiatric emergency. 

How can women get support from family and friends? ASK!! It’s nothing to be embarrassed about . Many new moms feel like they are inadequate if they ask for help and feel like they should do it all., Its ok ( and good) to talk about your feelings and ask for help,.  There are medical causes as well such as anemia and thryoid disorders so they should also seek help from their OB provider as it may be there is an underlying medical disorder. 

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