Postpartum Depression!
(PPD) (Post Natal to you & me)

Author's prologue:
I recently got drawn into seeing at first hand a good friend suffering from PPD. She is a bright and extremely intelligent young girl who is perfectly aware of her predicament. I may be wrong but to me she seems to be able to stand to one side and see what is happening to her yet she is unable to control the varied emotions that have befallen her.


Events, fears, worries etc that she would normally brush aside affect her to distraction and her immediate family, although willing, can only help physically. I won't go into the personal issues here because, well, they are personal, so to get around this unusual predicament that I find myself in, I decided to actually post an article on the subject which includes stuff from other people. Why? Because I normally write (or try to write) impartially but on this subject, since the contact with my friend, I felt I couldn't do so, therefore, I have added content written by various (impartial) people.

I have kept all links and credits in place so if you are reading this on a computer you may visit further resources should you wish to do so. Those of you who know my writing principals might find this odd but in this case I decided to depart from the norm. Now, on to the subject matter.

Peter Charalambos
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Postpartum depression is a complex mix of physical, emotional, and behavioural changes that occur in a mother after giving birth. It is a serious condition, affecting 10% of new mothers. Symptoms range from mild to severe depression and may appear within days of delivery or gradually, perhaps up to a year later. Symptoms may last from a few weeks to a year.Baby blues'Baby' or maternity blues are a mild and transitory form of 'moodiness' suffered by up to 80% of postpartum women.

Symptoms:
They typically last from a few hours to several days, and include tearfulness, irritability, hypochondriasis, sleeplessness, impairment of concentration, and headache. The maternity blues are not considered a postpartum depressive disorder.

Diagnosis:
The diagnostic criteria for postpartum depression (PPD) are the same as for major depression, except that to distinguish PPD from the mild, transitory baby (maternity) blues, the symptoms must be present one month postpartum. Depression can also occur during pregnancy (ante-natal depression).There are other types of postpartum distress that do not involve depression. For example, the mother may present with postpartum anxiety and postpartum OCD (including pure-O OCD). Symptoms of post-partum OCD include recurring intrusive thoughts, obsessive thoughts, avoidance behaviour, fears, anxiety, and depression.


Causes:
While not all causes of PPD are known, several factors have been identified. .........click to read the rest of this fascinating article on Postpartum Depression


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