child

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august 2014 august 2014
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child
Post-partum
depressioncanlast
upto ayear.
new mom mental health
Baby Blues?
A
week after delivering her
baby girl two years ago,
Chanda Sarma didnt feel
right emotionally. Five weeks later,
when her regular bouts of crying
and feelings of being emotionally
weak refused to fade away, her
doctor calmed her down and
suggested that she become more
communicative with her husband,
catch up with friends and get back
to her love for books. I was
working till even 12 hours before
the delivery. Quite naturally, I
suddenly felt a vacuum. I wasnt
used to staying at home. In
Post-partum depression a icts many new moms, but most of them rarely talk
about it or seek professional help. Heres a low-down. by MEGHNA MENON
addition, I doubted my ability as a
good mother, says Sarma. The
26-year-old Delhi-based digital
marketing professional was
sufering frompost-partum
depression(PPD), a major type of
depressionthat sets inafter
childbirth (or evena year after) and
lasts for anywhere fromup to a
month to up to a year. About 80per
cent of newmothers undergo
something called the baby blues
which subsides in2-3 weeks. Of
these, 10-20per cent sufer from
PPDand a minor 2 per cent from
post-partumpsychosis, says
Dr. Archana Nirula, a gynaecologist,
and the India coordinator at
PostpartumSupport International,
a global non-prot organization.
what brings it on?
Asudden and rapid drop in the
hormonal levels of the newmomis
touted as the main culprit. From
say, as high as 100, the feel-good
hormones plummet to level zero in
a newmother and this instant fall
can drawthe cheer out of anyone.
Ahistory of depression, previous
problematic pregnancies, dif culty
in breastfeeding, lack of sleep,
No Stigma!
While women today, especially
in the metros, are better aware
through information available
online and in books, there is still
a stigma attached to problems
related to mental health. People
are a bit unwilling to seek
professional help. This is rather
unfortunate as they dont need
to suer the symptoms, says
Dr. Shantala Vadeyar, consultant
obstetrician, foetal and maternal
medicine specialist, KDAH. PPD
is nothing to be ashamed of.
Seeking professional help early
will, in fact, enable you to enjoy
motherhood better.
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marital and nancial troubles, a
change in lifestyle, lowself-esteem
and dealing with the sudden
enormity of taking care of another
life, can open the doors to PPD.
warning signs
Erratic mood swings, sudden bouts
of crying, lack of interest in the
baby, loss of appetite, feelings of
anger and anxiousness, tendency
to withdrawfromrelationships
all of these should set the alarm
bells ringing. Dr. Dean Creado,
consultant psychiatrist at the
Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani
Hospital (KDAH), Mumbai,
recommends that expectant
mothers and their relatives use the
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression
Scale, a standardized test easily
available online, to check whether
there is a possibility of depression
and then followup with the
obstetrician to get a referral to a
psychiatrist for further evaluation.
beyond borderline
In September 2010, the
newspapers were abuzz with the
news that a 40-year-old housewife
in Kerala called Suma had drowned
her 8-month-old baby in a washing
machine at her home and then
surrendered to the police. Suma
had been under the treatment of a
psychiatrist for a fewmonths
before the incident. In February
2012, 30-year-old Indian-
American Neha Patel, then a
pharmacist, drowned her 1-year-
old son Ishan in the bathtub at her
home in Florida, US, and then
handed the lifeless body to her
husband Rasesh. Patel had been
diagnosed with post-partum
depression and was, according to
media reports, not taking her
prescribed medication.
Suicidal tendencies,
hallucinations and delusions
should signal a red alert and are
usually symptoms of post-partum
psychosis. Ive had a patient who
used to imagine blood on her
sheets and another who feared that
the help would kidnap her child,
says Dr. Nirula, adding that the
family must take charge of the baby
at the very rst hint of PPDto
avoid any harmto the child.
you can fix it!
The good news is that PPD, like
most other types of depression, can
denitely be cured. The options
for treatment depend on the
severity of the symptoms where it
is crucial to ensure safety of the
mother and her newborn child,
says Dr. Creado.
Speak up: Dont sufer in silence.
Talk about your problem, seek
support, step out for cofee dates
with your husband, indulge
yourself at the salon, meet friends,
take up hobbies you left midway
and let your husband, momor
mother-in-lawtake care of the
baby while youre away. TV
presenter and compre Mandira
Bedi said in a May 2012 interview
to Child that her husband Raj
stepped in to take care of her and
her son Vir, emotionally and
physically, when she was sufering
fromPPD.
Counselling and therapy: If
you or your family thinks you
need professional help, approach
your doctor and make her your
best friend. Open up completely.
Sign up for regular appointments
and narrate your day-to-day
feelings and worries. She will
gradually guide you out of your
state of depression.
Medication: If you still nd it
very hard to suppress those
feelings of despondency or
depression, and if doctors
diagnose your condition as
post-partumpsychosis, they may
recommend you to psychiatrists,
who would monitor your health
and may even prescribe safe
anti-depressants or anti-anxiety
drugs, says Child Advisor
Dr. Manju Mehta. Medication is
prescribed in extremely severe
cases, she adds.
Dont suer in silence. Talk about your
problem, seek support, step out for coee
dates with your husband, indulge yourself.
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new mom_post-partum depression_2.indd 2-3 26/07/14 2:39 PM