A recent study in Denmark shows that 10 to 19 days after giving birth, women with newborns are seven times more likely than women with older infants to suffer severe mental illness. Problems range from anxiety and depression to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Finally scientists are beginning to home in on the rapid hormonal and physiological changes after childbirth that can trigger episodes of mental illness. Moms who are sleep deprived and lack social support are particularly at risk.
Only one in five mothers with depression ends up being diagnosed. And only one in five of THOSE actually receives treatment! "Women with postpartum depression are very ashamed of the problems that they're having,” says Jennifer Grosman, a clinical psychologist in Washington. “They think that they're supposed to be happy and enjoying being a new mother and if they're not, then they really feel very guilty about that. So they may go to great lengths to hide how they're really feeling and sort of put on a happy face."
Too few doctors screen for postpartum depression in new mothers; a routine questionnaire would catch many of the cases that otherwise go undetected. "Obstetricians are reluctant to ask questions about a woman's emotional state because they're afraid of opening a can of worms that they don't know how to deal with,” says Grosman. “But if they were properly educated and informed and given the proper referral sources, then they would be better equipped to help serve their patients."
Source: The Journal of the American Medical Association.
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