Perinatal Mental Health
Can you relate to any of these?
Feel it is more than just the "baby blues"
Feel more irritable or angry
Difficult bonding with your baby
Lack of interest in your baby
Exhausted but can't sleep
Feel like you should have never become a mother
Feel like you are "going crazy"
Constant worry and racing thoughts
Hopeless that things will get better
Intrusive thoughts and upsetting mental images related to your baby
Counting, checking, cleaning to ensure the safety of your baby
If you found yourself nodding yes while reading the list then please know you are not alone and it is not your fault. Symptoms of Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders can happen anytime during pregnancy and the first postpartum year. It affects 20% of women (dads, partners and adoptive mamas can get it, too!) and it's not just postpartum depression. It includes Pregnancy and Postpartum Anxiety, OCD and Postpartum PTSD as well as Postpartum Psychosis.
And yes, there are risk factors but no woman is invincible.