Postpartum Depression and Anxiety Symptoms.

• Feeling sad or depressed
• Irritable or angry at those around
• Difficulty bonding with the child
• Feeling anxious or panicky
• Problems with eating or sleeping
• Having upsetting thoughts that cannot be brought out of mind
• Feeling out of control or going crazy
• Feeling that one should not have become a mother
• Worried that one might hurt their baby or themselves. 

Any of these, and many more are the indications of perinatal mood or anxiety disorder, such as postpartum depression. While many women experience some mild mood changes during or after the birth of a child, 15 to 20% of Women experience more significant symptoms of depression or anxiety. Kindly note that with informed care worsening of these symptoms can be prevented and fully recover.

Women of every culture, age, income level and race can develop perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Symptoms can appear any time during pregnancy and the first 12 months after childbirth. There are advanced treatment options available which helps to recover.  Although the term “Postpartum depression” is most commonly used, there are actually several forms of illness women may experience including

Antepartum or Postpartum Depression: PPD, a woman with PPD might experience feelings of anger, sadness, irritability, guilt, lack of interest in the baby, changes in eating and sleeping habits, trouble concentrating, thoughts of hopelessness and sometimes even thoughts of harming the baby or herself.

Antepartum or Postpartum Anxiety: PPA, a woman with PPA may experience extreme worries and fears, often over the health and safety of the baby. Some women have panic attacks and might feel shortness of breath, chest pain, dizziness, a feeling of losing control and numbness and tingling.

Postpartum Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Women with PPOCD can have repetitive upsetting and unwanted thoughts or mental images and sometimes they need to do certain things over and over to reduce the anxiety caused by those thoughts. These women find these thoughts very scary and unusual and are very unlikely to ever act on them.

Postpartum Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: PPTSD is often caused by a traumatic or frightening childbirth, and symptoms may include flashbacks of the trauma with feelings of anxiety and the need to avoid things related to that event.

Postpartum Psychosis: PPP sufferers see and hear voices or images that others can’t called hallucinations. They may believe things that aren’t true and distrust those around them. They may also have periods of confusion and memory loss, and seem manic. This severe condition is dangerous so it is important to seek help immediately.