Postnatal mental health – mums and dads
Words associated with newborn baby: sleepless nights, endless diaper changes, crying, exhaustion wrapped in joy. Depression and Anxiety are words often not used in the same sentence with the Post Natal journey. However, more than 1 in 7 new mums and up to 1 in 10 dads experience Post Natal Depression and Anxiety (PNDA), with 100 thousand Australians being affected by PNDA annually. The psychological and practical adjustments associated with a new born baby can become overwhelming and heightened resulting in feeling down, exhausted, reduced enjoyment in activities, numbness and sleep and appetite disturbance.
Fatigue, hormonal changes and the adjustments increase the risk of experiencing mental health difficulties. Although baby blues is common and often resolves itself without treatment, PND can severely impact a parent’s attachment to their child when left untreated.
Post Natal depression does not only impact mothers but also fathers, impacting their ability to interact and bond with their child. Some experiences have been described as trembling at the idea of spending time with their child, to the extent of being reluctant to change their child’s diaper.
Post partum depression is unfortunately a common and complex phenomena that is extremely prevalent within our society. Pregnancy and birth of a child is a major transition and developmental period with important implications for mothers and fathers. With the potential change in role, identity and relationship dynamics parents can undergo extreme changes. These transitions can be associated with individual and relationship distress and emotional and mental problems that can be disruptive to parenthood. Due to these extreme relational, psychological and physical changes that occur during the perinatal period there is an increased risk of emotional vulnerability for both mothers and fathers. Labour or birth may or may not necessarily involve a medical trauma. A difficult or complicated labour increases the risk of developing PND, nevertheless PND can still arise without a medical trauma.
Bringing new life into the world encompasses massive emotional and physical investment where people may have preconceived expectations that do not translate into the real experience leading to disappointment and breakdown. There are protective factors you can implement. These include
Sleeping and eating properly
Exercise
Education yourself about the condition to recognise and get help quickly.
Enlisting good support network during childbirth
Preparing yourself well for childbirth
Enlist help on household items during postpartum period
Finding strong emotional support
Symptoms involve: memory and concentration issues, increased irritability, reduced enjoyment in activities, sleep and appetite disturbance, feeling numb, hopeless, despair about the future. Feeling out of control of crazy, unable to rest, nightmare or flashbacks of the birth, fatigue, increasingly angry, recurrent thoughts of suicide or wanting to die.
If not identified and treated early postnatal depression can persist for months or even years thus increasing the harmful impacts on the family further. PNDA can be a debilitating experience however it can be treated and managed with effective help. The faster you reach out and seek help, the faster you are likely to not reach your boiling point and can return to a healthy wellbeing.