From nausea to back pains a woman’s body and mind experience a great deal when carrying a child as well as when giving birth to one. Oftentimes a mother will experience “baby blues” or Postpartum Depression (PPD) after childbirth. Postpartum Depression is regularly characterized by mood swings, crying spells, anxiety and difficulty sleeping.
At Therapeutic Solutions in Chico, California our trained professionals are ready to help new mothers overcome postpartum depression and enjoy their new life as a mother. To learn more about Postpartum Depression Treatment in Chico, contact us today!
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No matter how much you love your child or how much you look forward to it, having a baby is extremely stressful. To make matters worse, many new moms feel like their emotions are on a constant roller coaster.
The reason for these emotions include:
As a matter of fact, mood swings and depression are so standard that they are often called “the baby blues.”
It’s no surprise that the majority of new mothers experience at least several of the baby blues symptoms directly after giving birth.
This can be caused by a wide variety of factors, which include everything from:
As a result, it’s common for you to feel more emotionally fragile, overwhelmed, and tearful than ever before. Usually, these symptoms will begin after the first few days of giving birth. After one week, they will typically peak, tapering off around the second week after delivery.
That being said, it’s perfectly natural to experience baby blues postpartum. However, if your symptoms continue to get worse, you may be dealing with a serious case of postpartum depression.
For many new mothers, postpartum depression is a much more serious problem than the baby blues are – one that shouldn’t be ignored. At first, the symptoms of postpartum depression can look exactly like baby blues. Surprisingly enough, the baby blues and postpartum depression share a wide variety of symptoms.
These shared symptoms include:
However, the real difference between the two is that the symptoms of postpartum depression are much more severe and longer-lasting. Sadly, this experience can include the inability to care for your newborn or thoughts of suicide.
In fact, you’re most likely suffering from a bad case of postpartum depression if you’re experiencing:
To understand your symptoms more fully, we highly recommend that you take a look at the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. This special screening tool was created to detect signs of postpartum depression in new mothers.
When you are ready, be sure to follow the instructions very carefully. That’s because getting a score higher than 13 means that you need a more in-depth analysis to qualify for postpartum depression treatment.
While it is hard to pinpoint the exact reason why some new moms suffer from postpartum depression and other moms do not, several risks and causes can contribute to your overall problem, including:
After giving birth to a child, a woman's progesterone and estrogen levels experience a big drop. In addition to this, thyroid levels decrease as well, leading to depression and fatigue. These rapid changes in your hormones, along with changes in your metabolism, immune system functioning, and blood pressure, can result in postpartum depression.
As you may already know, having a child brings many emotional and physical changes. You might be dealing with anything from trying to lose stubborn baby weight to physical delivery pain. This can make you feel insecure about your sexual and physical attractiveness, leading to postpartum depression.
Naturally, taking care of a newborn can take a toll on your mental health, especially if you're dealing with sleep deprivation. Plus, you might feel anxious and overwhelmed about properly taking care of your baby. Adjusting to these feelings is particularly hard if this is the first time you've given birth, which can end up in postpartum depression.
Even though it’s very rare to experience postpartum psychosis, these serious symptoms can happen directly after childbirth, usually characterized by a severe loss of “contact with reality.” Due to the exceedingly high risk for infanticide or suicide, getting hospitalized is typically needed to keep both the new baby and the new mom safe.
Although the symptoms of postpartum psychosis can develop quickly, they usually happen within the first couple of weeks after delivery. However, in more extreme cases, you can experience postpartum psychosis within the first 48 hours after childbirth.
These symptoms can include:
Fortunately for you, you may qualify for postpartum depression therapy depending on:
To get started, your treatment may include meeting with psychotherapy professionals like a psychologist or psychiatrist for individual or group therapy sessions. The most popular treatment methods involve two types of talk therapy – interpersonal therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. The choice is up to you!
Other treatments for postpartum depression include antidepressants, & can be prescribed depending on:
Feeling blue? We’re here for all your postpartum depression and baby blues needs.
Ready to seek treatment? Contact us now to get your free treatment estimate today!
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