Could I have Postpartum Depression?

DO YOU:

• Have trouble sleeping?
• Find you’re exhausted most of the time?
• Notice a decrease in your appetite?
• Worry about little things that never used to bother you?
• Wonder if you’ll ever have time for yourself again?
• Think your children would be better off without you?
• Worry that your husband will get tired of your feeling this way?
• Snap at your husband and children over everything?
• Think everyone else is a better mother than you are?
• Cry over the slightest thing?
• No longer enjoy the things that you used to?
• Isolate yourself from friends and neighbors?
• Fear leaving the house or being alone?
• Have anxiety attacks?
• Have feelings of unexplained anger?
• Have difficulty concentrating?
• Think something else is wrong with you or your marriage?
• Feel like you will always feel this way and never get better?

Many new mothers will experience some of these feelings. If you answered “yes” to more than three of these questions, you may have postpartum depression (PPD). PPD affects 20% to 30% of all postpartum women. It is a real illness. It is very treatable. Do not deny yourself the opportunity to feel good again. Do not let misinformation, uncertainty, shame, finances, embarrassment, or denial get in the way of your getting the help you need. Talk to your doctor. Talk to your husband. Once you decide to seek treatment, you will be on the road to feeling better….

 Courtesy of:
The Postpartum Stress Center
Karen Kleiman, Executive Director